Shadow the Hedgehog 2
by DangerousRockstar
Summary: It's been 3 months since Shadow defeated Black doom. However, a forgotten expirement on ARK awakens and is ordered to find the Emeralds, bring the Black Arms back to life, & kill Shadow. Can Shadow defeat this foe? DISCONTINUED
1. New Danger Lurks

I just finished my Love on Cruise Rosemary fanfic quick, because I wanted to start on this fic so bad. But here I am, making the magic happen! So enjoy the first chappie to my new fanfic!

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Prologue

_In the middle of June, a sudden invasion occurred on planet Earth. The ones responsible was an alien group called the Black Arms. Their leader was Black Doom. During the war between good and evil, a certain black and red hedgehog struggled to figure out about his past, while siding one another. Some say he was with the Black Arms, others thought that he was teaming up with G.U.N. and Sonic. However, none of that mattered to him as he searched for the seven Chaos Emeralds, in order to learn the truth about his past. On the Black Comet, his main mission was almost completed when Black Doom stole the Emeralds and trapped Sonic, Dr. Eggman, and the others. The only one that could stop him was Shadow himself. After learning his true purpose, he decided to put the past to the side and defeated Black Doom. Still, was that the end of the Black Arms? Is Black Doom really dead? Could there be more danger afoot? Nobody knows…_

_3 months later…_

* * *

Space Colony ARK, a space station that hovered above the planet of life. Inside the station was darkness and emptiness. But deep inside the ARK, a secret laboratory was locked away. Nobody knows about the secret lab, not even the deceased Professor Gerald Robotnik. Inside the lab, a large capsule was in the middle of the room, with wires attached to it. Dark green liquid swirled inside the capsule as a creature in it was finally coming to life. It was a dark hedgehog with gray streaks on his quills, arms and legs. It also had dark gray bracelets and white and gray shoes. Slowly, he opened his fearsome green eyes. Strongly, he punched through the capsule and got out successfully. As the dark green substance gathered all over the floor, the dark creature stood there with his eyes closed. Just then, a small projector appeared in front of him. Silently, it showed a holographic form of a mysterious black alien with three eyes, wearing a charcoal gray robe with evil-looking necklaces on him. The alien also had three fingers on both of his hands.

"Hello, Mephiles", the hologram spoke. "As you can see, you've been finally released. It's been over 50 years, and you finally have life. You see, the reason why it's so dark in there is because there was this incident, involving humans destroying all of the creations and shutting down this ARK. Since then, no one has come foot to this space colony. However, I was able to keep you safe in order for you to fully awaken. This message is not only to greet you, but it's also a message telling you that the Black Arms are being betrayed, because we tried to destroy the planet with the Eclipse Cannon, until **someone** got in the way. But now, I have a job for you. There's a planet called Earth. Down there lies the seven Chaos Emeralds. Find them and find a way to bring the Black Arms back to life. And lastly…KILL SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG!" Mephiles stayed silent. "Once you've done all your work, I will award you with great power, power that can't be destroyed. Now go." Once the message was said, the hologram disappeared and the projector landed on the ground, out of power.

"Hmm…Mephiles", the dark hedgehog pondered to himself. "That must be my name. Hm. Now that I've fully awaken, I might as well do the job and get it over with, that way I can gain some power. First things first. I have to find the seven Chaos Emeralds. Then after that, I'll bring the Black Arms back to life. More importantly…kill Shadow the Hedgehog…" He let out an evil laugh, letting the echoes circle around the ARK...

_**Sega and Sonic Team presents…**_

**I see no, hear no evil,  
black writing on the wall,  
unleash one million faces,  
and one by one they fall!  
Black hearted evil,  
brave hearted hero,  
I am all, I am all I am****ee?  
I am all, I am all of me!(x4)**

**(I, I, I)**

**I am!**

**Here we go buddy, here we go buddy, here we go, here we go buddy,  
here we go!**

**Go ahead and try to see through me,  
do it if you care,  
one step forward,  
two steps back,  
I'm gonna step forward,  
(Two steps back)**

**Do it, do it, do it, do it!**

**Can you see all of me?  
Walk into my mysteries?  
Step inside and hold on for delight,  
Do you remember me?  
Capture you or set you fr**

**(Here we go...)**

**I see and feel the evil,  
my hands will crush them all,  
you think you have the answer,  
while I laugh and watch you fall!**

**Black hearted evil,  
brave hearted hero,  
I am all, I am all I am**

**(I, I, I)**

**I am!**

**Here we go buddy, here we go buddy, here we go, here we go buddy,  
here we go!**

**Go ahead and try to see through me,  
do it if you care,  
one step forward,  
two steps back,  
I'm gonna step forward,  
(Two steps back)**

**Do it, do it, do it, do it!**

**Can you see all of me?  
Walk into my mysteries?  
Step inside and hold on for delight,  
Do you remember me?  
Capture you or set you free?  
I am all, I am all of me!(x4)**

**(Here we go...)**

**I am, I am everyone, everywhere, anyhow, anyway, anywhere, any  
day! (x2)**

**I am, I am, I am! (x2)**

**I am!**

**Do it, do it, do it, do it!**

**Can you see all of me?  
Walk into my mysteries?  
Step inside and hold on for delight,  
Do you remember me?  
Capture you or set you free?  
I am all, I am all of me! (x4)**

**(Here we go, here go, here we go...)**

**I am, I am all of me...**

_**Shadow the Hedgehog 2**_

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Sweet! This is perfecto! I think this was an awesome intro! Well, anyway, to find out what happens next, R&R, thanks! BTW, I don't own anything!


	2. The Couple

I'm back again! I wanted to update yesterday, but I had to work and I was very exhausted. So anyway, here's the next chappie! Oh and there'll be some ShadAmy in this chappie. Ok, enjoy.

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Since the Black Arms have fallen, everyone's lives have changed. Westopolis received the massive hit of the invasion and was now left in ruins. Some survived the war, some did not. Other than that, one hedgehog saved them all.

His name was Shadow. Ever since he defeated Black Doom, he put the past to side and focused on what's on ahead. However, he has changed as well. Shortly after the war, he began to have feelings for Amy Rose, a girl who had a huge crush on Sonic. But after her heart was broken, he was able to restore it by sharing his feelings towards her. Since then, they became a couple. They now live in Station Square, one of the places that were lucky enough to not get attacked by the Black Arms. Peacefully, they live together.

Still, his past remains in him. Sometimes, he would see flashbacks to what happened 50 years ago. The flashback that he sees the most was the death of Maria. He remembered it all. The gunfire, the alarms, the heartless humans, and of course, Maria…

"Forget-me-nots", Amy's voice said.

"?" Shadow woke up from the same flashback and realized that he was in the backyard with his newly beloved. "Hm?" he turned to her.

"I said, these are called Forget-me-nots", Amy repeated kindly.

"Oh", Shadow looked at the blue beautiful flowers. "Forget-me-nots. They're nice", he commented on Amy's excellent gardening skills.

"You know why they're called Forget-me-nots?"

"No."

"Well…They say that the wearers of the flower would not be forgotten by their lovers", Amy explained with a lovely sigh.

Shadow stayed silent as he looked at the flowers again. Even though she was his first girlfriend, he seems shy at times, but only around her. But he was already shy towards her to begin with. Usually, he didn't want to show any feelings in front of anyone, because he didn't want anyone to get into his business, especially Sonic and the others. Still, he tries to be a little more…open up.

"You'll never forget your lovers, huh?" he spoke.

"Nope", Amy shook her head with a smile.

"Well, I got something you'll never forget", Shadow smirked a little.

"Really? What is it, what is it, what is it, what is it?" Amy asked excitedly as she hopped up and down.

"Come", the dark hedgehog spoke as he walked inside the brick house. With Amy following him, he led her to the bedroom. "Close your eyes."

"Ok", Amy readily covered her eyes.

Patiently, the male hedgehog searched all over the room for her gift. He checked in the drawers, but it wasn't there. Remembering where it was, he looked under the bed and pulled out a small white box. As he stood up, he opened it. Inside was a golden necklace with a golden heart shaped locket attached to it. Quietly, Shadow puts the necklace on Amy.

"Open your eyes."

Curiously, Amy opens her eyes and looks around. She looked down and gasped. She observed the beautiful jewelry with a smile on her face.

"It's beautiful", she commented. "Thank you so much, Shadow", she hugged him sweetly. He blushed but decided to hug her back. "Hey, come here right quick", she took his hand and led him to a circular mirror which was attached to the dresser. "Don't we look cute together?" she asked considerately. Silently, Shadow looked at the reflection and looked away with a blush. She giggled. She turned to him and placed her lips on his, eyes shut. Shadow widened his eyes a little with another blush as he watched her wrap her arms around his neck. Closing his eyes too, he wraps his arms around her waist.

"Oh, wait, what time is it?" he broke the kiss.

"Erm…" Amy looked at the alarm clock behind him. "Almost three o'clock, why?"

"I gotta go train again", he replied.

"Oh. Your hardcore training with Espio?" the female released him. "Why train so much? I mean, there's no danger here."

"That's the reason why", Shadow answered. "Just in case someone tries to attack us by surprise, I'll be able to take them down. Plus, I gotta protect you", he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I understand", Amy smiled. "After all, you are my knight in shiny armor", she swirled a piece of Shadow's white chest, causing him to blush again.

"I'll be back as soon as I can", her dark hero promised and gave her a short kiss on the lips. Then he took off to the Chaotix's.

Left alone, Amy looked at the locket again. It was surprising, because Shadow hasn't bought a gift for her after they first came to be. So she could tell that he was opening up a little more. She opened the locket and found a ruby piece in the right space. The left space said the word _Love_ in perfect cursive handwriting. She did like her gift, however. But she wanted to put a couple pictures of her and Shadow in it. Other than that, she admired it.

"I'll treasure this always", she closed the locket. "Let's see…Since Shadow's gonna be gone for a while, what am I supposed to do? Aw man, I'm gonna get bored", she pondered.

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Ok, sorry for this chappie for being short, that's all I had. And I couldn't forget my ShadAmy promises :). Anyway, R&R, thanks!


	3. Training with Espio

I'm back again! And here's the next chappie.

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Outside the Chaotix's house, Shadow was training long and hard as he usually does. He would learn the guidelines from Espio, who claims to be the master of ninjutsu and martial arts. Ever since the end of the Black Arms, he did take some time to practice some new fighting techniques so that way he could defeat his future enemies. Although, Espio's training sessions were extremely tough for him, but that didn't matter.

So far, Shadow was doing a lot better in his training. Now he was put to the test to see if he could complete every obstacle without getting injured. Just as soon as Charmy blew the whistle, the test began. First Shadow dodged all of the upcoming thrown kunais and ninja stars in super fast speed. Next, he knocked down some remote controlled wooden dummies. Some almost got an aim at him, but he was able to surpass them all. Third, he punched some targets that were placed on some huge boulders. Shortly after that, he defeated a small group of metal-like dummies with some awesome martial arts moves. After that, he avoided some traps like sudden holes, flying nets, more thrown ninja stars, and knocked down some more dummies.

Later on, he was blindfolded as he held a few ninja stars in his hands. With so much focusing, he threw the ninja stars and hit the targets. He took off his blindfold and continued with the assessment. He dashed threw another trap, which was placed landmines. Of course, he knew he was going to face some surprising attacks, so he had to be careful. Sensing something, he stopped. Again, he dodged some more thrown kunais and ninja stars. He ducked, jumped over a few, and hopped from side to side. Once that was done, he looked ahead and saw a small white box sitting on a tree stump. Cautiously, he walked his way to the stump. Before he was an inch close, he jumped back and some spikes popped up from underground. Close one. He clenched his fists as he gathered some powers. Then he used his right fist and punched threw the stoned spikes and grabbed the box.

However, he had to go back to where he started. After avoiding some more traps and destroying some more dummies, he finally reached back to his starting point. His total timing was 5 minutes, 55 seconds, and 55 milliseconds. A new record. Slowly, he sat down and panted exhaustedly. Curiously, he opened the box and only found nothing.

"Ha! Thought you might win a prize, did ya?" Charmy pointed at him teasingly. He started laughing hysterically.

Ignoring him, Shadow rolled his eyes. All that mattered to him was that he was able to complete the challenge. And yet, he was a little surprised that Espio would set up a test like that! It was almost like a life-death task! Sighing softly, he stood back up.

"You've done well, Shadow", Espio became visible. He was the one who threw all of his weapons.

"So my training's complete, right?" Shadow turned to him.

"It could be, unless…Unless, you can defeat me", Espio opened his eyes with his arms crossed.

"Is that so?" the dark hedgehog narrowed his eyebrows dangerously.

"Ooh", Charmy widened his eyes.

"If you beat me, your training will be 100 percent complete. Are you ready?" Espio got in his fighting position.

"Hmph", Shadow threw the empty box to the side. "I was born ready", he got in his fighting position.

The wind blew softly pass the whole area. Both Shadow and Espio stayed quiet as they glared at each other seriously. As soon as a green leaf flew between them, they charged at each other. Speedily, Shadow tries to make a hit at Espio with his fists and kicks. Still, Espio was able to dodge his attacks quickly. In fact, he was dodging so fast, Shadow could barely make another attempt to hit him! With Shadow raising another fist, Espio grabbed it and kneed him in the gut, causing him to cough out a little bit of blood. Strongly, he kicked the dark hedgehog away from him. At first, Shadow did slid backwards, but he got himself up and got back in his fighting position. Again, he charged at his opponent. This time, he tried to kick him, but Espio turned invisible, ducked down from his kick, and elbowed him in the gut. Sturdily, he sent Shadow back by a strong punch.

Painfully, Shadow got back up and coughed out some more blood. Before he looked up, his neck was suddenly wrapped around by a pair of strong arms from behind. It was Espio, who became visible again.

"You shouldn't let your guard down", the chameleon said calmly.

Growling furiously, the black hedgehog thinks on how he was going to escape. He tries to open Espio's arms, but only received a stronger choking hold. He felt like he was running out of breath, he couldn't make a small pant. Charmy was biting on his fingers nervously, hoping that Espio doesn't kill him. Shadow was about to run out of air, until…

"PIZZA'S HERE!" Vector kicked the backdoor open with a smile. By that call, Espio released Shadow and let him fall forward, ignoring his small painful groan.

"PIZZA!!" Charmy took his focus from the battle and turned to the door. "MOVE IT!" he hurriedly buzzed through the doorway, causing Vector to jump out of the way.

"You coming?" the crocodile asked the other two creatures.

"In a second", Espio answered.

"Ok, I'll save you some-," Vector said but was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a broken glass plate. "Charmy! Wait until everyone's in the kitchen, you idiot!" he yelled disapprovingly as he stomped back in the house.

Panting barely, Shadow held his neck in pain. He didn't think that Espio would go too far on him, even for a first try. Plus, he couldn't believe that he couldn't defeat him! But since their brawl was interrupted by Vector, neither of them has claimed to be the winner. Perhaps it was more like a timeout. Hopefully, Shadow would be able to defeat his trainer next time.

"Even though this was your first try, that didn't mean that I was going to go easy on you", Espio explained. "Now you know what you might face in the future. By learning what happened through this battle, you should now know the possibilities that could happen to you. Besides, you need more practice." Shadow growled, turned around, and aimed at him with a fist. Swiftly, the ninja grabbed it and knocked the hedgehog down again. "And you should think before doing anything", he said his last response. "If you wanna eat, then come inside", he walked his way to the house.

Panting some more, Shadow sat up and felt his bruised left cheek. It was a strong punch, to be honest. Yet, he still couldn't believe that he didn't lay a single punch at Espio! At least he now knew what he was up against. In order to complete his training, he had to defeat the master. So he'll definitely try again next time.

"_He is tough, I'll give him that",_ he thought as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Carefully, he stood up and brushed the dirt off of him. Then he heads his way inside the house, where he can hear everyone arguing over some pizza.

* * *

Wow, that's some hardcore training. Kinda reminds me of Naruto, I guess. Well, anyway, will Shadow defeat Espio next time? What's Mephiles up to? To find out, R&R nicely! Thanks!


	4. Arriving

Yay, I got a day off today! And here's the next chappie! Let's see what Mephiles is up to…

* * *

Back on ARK, Mephiles looked down at the planet from a large window in a small room. That's where he had to do his missions, all on one planet. One thing for sure, how was going to go down to that planet? Quietly, he walked out of the room and found his way to another small room. He looked around until he saw a computer right near a wall. He walked to it and turned it on.

Silently, he looked up some info to what happened on the ARK. Later on, he saw a document that told him about the Black Arms. He learned that Black Doom was the leader and was the mysterious creature from the holographic message. Lastly, he found another document about Shadow. He only found one snapshot of him sleeping inside a capsule.

"Hm."

Soon enough, he disappeared and reappeared inside an evacuation room. In the middle of the room, he saw a capsule that looked like it was ready to be used. After setting things up by another computer, Mephiles walked to the capsule and got inside. He kept his arms crossed as the capsule went down and heads to Earth. He closed his eyes.

Minutes later, the capsule crashed at a desert. Powerfully, Mephiles broke through the glass capsule and got out. Then he reappeared outside the hole. He looked around and only found nothing but deserted paths. That didn't matter much to him, because he didn't have time to do some sight seeing. Speedily, he took off running with his dark gray and white air shoes.

Many minutes later, he stopped when he saw a campfire. There, he saw a cowboy playing with his harmonica. He walks to the creature.

"I'm looking for a hedgehog", he said in a sinister tone.

"Hedgehog?" the human looked up at him. "Hey, you're Shadow the Hedgehog, aren't you?" he asked curiously with a small smile.

"No", the dark hedgehog replied.

"Oh", the male human realized. "It's just that, you look like him. Are you two brothers?"

"Maybe", Mephiles lied. Even if he was Shadow's twin brother, he didn't care. "Do you know where I can find him?"

"Well…I heard after he defeated those black aliens, he just moved out of town. I heard a rumor that he's living in Station Square now. I mean, that's where Sonic and his friends live at anyway", the country man explained as he scratched his head.

"Where is this Station Square?"

"Erm…I'm not sure, sir. You have to find a way out of this dessert. I mean, I've been trapped here for about a month now."

"I see. Well, let me give you a reward for telling you my thanks", Mephiles said evilly.

"Huh?" the human looked up at him.

Silently, Mephiles' eyes glowed brightly. Suddenly, the human started suffocating as he held his chest in pain. He panted but that only made things worse.

"What are you doing!?" he asked fearfully.

"Trying to stop your heart", Mephiles chuckled. He lifts a palm in front of him and focuses on the inside of the human's chest. He saw through him and noticed the organ was beating rapidly. Closing his eyes, he clenched his left hand.

"…!" the human coughed out some blood as his heart completely stopped. Then he collapsed forward, dead.

Mephiles looked at his hands with wonder. He didn't have any idea that he could do that. What else can he do? Focusing on his powers, he formed a black energy ball. He threw it at a cactus and destroyed gravely. Then he used some discovered psychic powers by lifting up the dead human. Slowly, he released the human and let it fall to the hard ground. Now he knew what kind of power that he has. Even so, he wanted more, more from Black Doom. With all of the info gathered, he now knows what to do.

"Station Square, huh? That's where I'll find my target. Hopefully, I can find a Chaos Emerald there as well", he said to himself. Yet again, he took off forward. "Watch out, Shadow. Because you're about to meet your nightmare", he said then giggled evilly.

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Well, sorry for this chappie for being short. I didn't have a lot of ideas today. But yeah, now we know what's going on. To find out what happens next, R&R!


	5. Name that Chao!

I have another day off, so I get to update again! And there will be a little more ShadAmy this time…

* * *

While Shadow was at the Chaotix's, Amy decided to go out for a bit. She did watch a little bit of TV, but nothing good was on. As time went by, she went to the mall and bought a few new outfits. Then she went to the grocery store and bought some food for dinner. She looked at her watch and noticed that it was near six o'clock. Before she passed an alley, she suddenly heard a sound.

"Huh?" she stopped and looked to her right. "What was that?" She heard the same sound again. "Anyone there?" she asked outloud as she slowly walked into the alley. Sure it might be dangerous, but she knows that her Piko-Piko hammer would knock any criminal down. Plus, she wasn't scared of the dark. As she continued walking, she heard a chao sound. "A chao?" she questioned. Just before she took another step, she heard something move. She took a peek beside a dumpster and found a small black chao with red eyes and red streaks on his body. "Aww, you poor little thing", she sat her bags down and picked up the chao. "Have you been living here all by yourself?" she asked the chao curiously.

"Chao (Yeah)…" the small creature lowered his head sadly.

"Oh, that's terrible", Amy said with concern. She examined the chao and found one of his red wings broken a little. "Can you fly?" The chao shook his head. "Hmm…Well, you have nothing to worry about!" she smiled. "I'll take care of you." She looked down at the chao and noticed the color of the eyes and streaks. Then she began to daydream.

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"_You're such a fake hedgehog!" Sonic pointed at the chao mistakenly._

"_Um…I'm right here", Shadow was right next to him as he sweatdropped._

"_Aah!" the blue hedgehog jumped from his feet and fell backwards. "There are two of them!?" he pulled his quills frightfully._

"_Me Shadow-chao-chao! (I'm Shadow the Hedgehog)!" the black chao exclaimed cheerfully. Shadow sweatdropped by that comment._

* * *

Amy giggled after she saw that daydream. "You're going to love it at my place", she said to the cute creature. "In fact, I can't wait for you to meet Shadow."

Five minutes after seven, Shadow made it back home safely. He was pretty sore, because of his training. He walked inside the house and noticed everything was quiet. Where was Amy? Was she asleep? Curiously, he walked to the bedroom door. Just as he opened the door…

"BOO!" Amy popped out of nowhere, making Shadow jump a little and blush. "Did I scare ya?" she giggled.

"I wasn't scared. Just surprised", Shadow crossed his arms with his eyes closed.

"Well, anyway, I got something to show you", the pink hedgehog said energetically as she was hidding something behind her back.

"What is it?" the dark hedgehog opened his eyes as his blush disappeared.

"Ta-da!" Amy showed him a black chao with red eyes and streaks like him.

"Chao-chao (Hello)!" the black chao waved nicely.

"Um..." Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"It's a chao, silly", his girlfriend giggled again. "Anyways, I was walking home from the store, but then I found him in the alley and he was all alone. Plus, I had to take care of his broken wing", she show the chao's left wing covered in bandages. "So, can we keep him, please, please, please?"

"Well…" Shadow pondered.

"Pretty please with some sugar, whip cream and a cherry on top?" Amy asked with her beautiful turquoise green eyes. Shadow blushed because he knew he couldn't resist them.

"…Fine. We'll keep him", he sighed with his eyes closed again.

"Yay!" Amy jumped on him and hugged him tightly. "We're family now."

Trying to breath, the dark hedgehog looked down at his Rose. He noticed a smile on her face. It was one thing that always keeps his head up. Her smile. He looked at the chao and noticed it hugging him as well. A family. He never had that before, not ever since Maria and Professor Gerald. A warm feeling was building inside him. Softly, he rested his chin on his beloved's head.

"Yes. We're family now."

"Great. I'll make some dinner", Amy finally released him, gave the chao to Shadow and walked to the kitchen.

Waiting for the food to be ready, the black chao sat on the table looking at Shadow, who sat on a wooden chair. The hedgehog had his eyes closed until he finally opened them. Copying him, the chao crossed his arms. Then Shadow uncrossed his arms and the chao did the same. Getting annoyed, Shadow stuck his tongue at it. The chao shut his eyes tightly rudely and stuck his tongue out too. After that, Shadow placed his hands on his hips. The chao opened his eyes and repeated his movements. Very irritated, Shadow slapped his forehead. Again, the chao copied off of him. They looked at each other with the same annoyed feeling through their eyes. Slightly, they raised a brow. Then they looked away from each other with their arms crossed again.

"You two are so cute", Amy giggled at them. The two blushed at that comment.

Minutes later, they finally had dinner. All they ate was mashed potatoes, broccoli, salad, fresh oranges, vegetable soup, and meatloaf. However, the little chao only ate about 5 plates of dinner. So he was pretty hungry. He burped as he rubbed his pretty big belly.

"Wow", Shadow said as he raised a brow.

"You know, we haven't given him a name yet", Amy just realized.

"What do you have in mind?" Shadow turned to her.

"Let's name him Bobby!" Amy said cheerfully. The black chao looked at her oddly and shook his head.

"…I think we should name him Death", Shadow thought outloud.

"Why? That sounds so…evil."

"I like it."

"Oh, wait, how about JoJo?" The black chao slapped his forehead. Where does she come up with these names?

"I think Grim sounds better."

"You mean like the grim reaper? I don't like it. Let's name him Bo."

"I have to disagree with you. Let's name him Damien."

"I don't think so."

"Fine, we'll call him Wrath."

"What's with all of these devilish names?" Amy sweatdropped. Shadow just shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway…I'm thinking…Marco? Polo?" Yet again, the chao slapped his forehead.

"I think Ace sounds better."

"Where'd you get that name from?"

"Some guy from this rock band called KISS."

"Um…"

Staying silent, Shadow pondered to himself. How hard can it be to name a single chao? He didn't expect it to be so challenging to him, considering he never had a pet chao before. And yet, he didn't think that Amy would disagree with him so much, and come up with some goofy names. Not a moment too soon, he snapped his fingers.

"Shade."

"Huh?" Amy turned to him.

"We'll name him Shade", Shadow looked at her honestly.

"Hm…You like that name?" the female asked the chao. He smiled and nodded. "Ok then. Your name is Shade", she picked up the chao with a smile.

That night, everyone went inside the bedroom. The walls and the carpet were peach-yellow, the furniture was old gold, and the four-poster bed had white sheets, badge cover, and the curtains were badge also. Amy came out of the bathroom in her long white gown after she had her shower. She saw Shadow sitting on the bed looking at his wounds. He had some cuts on his arms and legs, a bruise on his left cheek and on his forehead and a rash on his left shoulder.

"You need anything?" the pink hedgehog asked.

"Anything to cover these wounds", he replied. Amy helped him out by putting some medicine on his cuts, even though he kept hissing in pain. Then she placed some bandages on them. As for the bruise on his cheek, she got him an ice pack and he puts it on his injured cheek.

"You ok now?" Amy asked kind-heartedly.

"Hate to ask, but…Can you…rub my shoulders for a little bit?" Shadow asked kind of nervously with a small blush on his cheeks.

"You mean like a massage?" the female hedgehog said. Her boyfriend nodded. "Ok", she got on the bed, sat behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Not too hard though", Shadow spoke before she got started.

"Ok", Amy smiled. Gently, she began to massage his shoulders. He sighed softly. "I'm guessing your training today was pretty rough, huh?" she started a conversation.

"Yeah", the dark hedgehog replied. "You can say that."

"What'd you do?" she asked as she started massaging his neck a little.

"Well, I finally completed the obstacles. But then, I was given an opportunity to defeat Espio. All I have to say is he's pretty tough."

"Well, I'm sure you'll try again next time", the pink hedgehog smiled.

"Well…I did try again at least ten times", Shadow admitted.

"You know what they say: At first you don't succeed, always try again."

"Not only that, he tried to kill me."

"Oh, c'mon", Amy began to massage his back easily. "I'm sure he didn't mean to."

"No seriously, he tried to kill me."

"Well, I'm sure he was just showing you what kind of enemies you might face in the future or whatever."

"Still…he tried to kill me."

Rolling her eyes, Amy continued to massage her sweetheart's shoulders. She stopped when she heard some snoring. She looked at Shadow and noticed that his eyes were closed. Slowly, he fell to the side on the bed, continuing to snore lightly, letting the ice pack fall on the floor. Amy scratched her head with a sort of odd look on her face. One massage and he was out. She giggled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He stopped snoring and blushed completely red. Shade crawled to Amy as he yawned.

"Let's get some sleep", Amy looked over at the chao kindly.

Around midnight, everyone was in a deep sleep. Shade was sleeping between the two hedgehogs. However, he woke up when he heard Shadow snoring a little louder than earlier. Angrily, he crawled up to the hedgehog's chest and plugged up his nose. That did stop the snoring however. Shadow's cheeks started turning blue. As his face turned purple, he gasped for some air and sat up. He looked around and saw that Shade (who didn't get caught) and Amy were still asleep. Yawning softly, he tucked himself back in.

A moment later, he felt some cover getting pulled away. Shadow woke up by some chills and looked over his left shoulder. He saw Shade taking all the cover. Quietly, he stole some cover back and closed his eyes. Meanly, Shade pulled the cover and sheets away from the hedgehog and went back to sleep. Now Shadow was getting furious. He pulled the cover, but Shade kept trying to pull it away from him. They had a little tug-a-war scene until they ripped the cover in half. Shade quickly went back to sleep as Shadow looked at the ruined cover. He could tell by morning he was going to get in trouble. Once more, he tried to pull the sheets from Shade, but only received a big bite on his hand. He held in his painful yell as he released the sheets. And to think that chao's were supposed to be nice and friendly. Well, not Shade. He was the exact opposite from that.

After massaging his hand, Shadow looked at the sleeping chao and crossed his arms. He looked at Amy, who has been asleep through the whole time. He didn't want to try pulling the sheets again, because he might wake her up. Besides, he doesn't want to see Amy extremely angry at night. He has heard once from Tails saying that Knuckles accidentally tripped over Amy in her sleep, woke her up, and then started swinging her hammer at him like mad! Instead of taking that risk, Shadow got out of bed, barefooted, and tip toed out of the room. He went to the linen closet and found a large blanket, then slightly closed the door. Shortly after that, he went to the living room, got on the couch, and put the blanket on him. Then he went back to sleep.

* * *

Tee-hee, Shade's so cute :) R&R! Thanks!


	6. The Rival

Another day off and another chappie :)

* * *

The next day, Amy woke up from the sunlight touching her face. She sat up and yawned. As she rubbed her eyes, Shade woke up and yawned. He sat up and rubbed his eyes too.

"Morning, Shade", the pink hedgehog turned to the chao with a kind smile.

"Chao (Look)", Shade held up the ripped cover.

"Oh, my gosh!" Amy gasped in shock. "Who did that?"

"Shadow-chao-chao (It was Shadow)", Shade replied.

"Hmph", Amy crossed her arms. "How immature."

In the living room, Shadow was snoring to himself as a little bit of drool dripped from his lips. But when he felt the sunlight coming in, he took a pillow and puts it on his face. Quietly, Amy walked in with Shade sitting on her head as she held the ruined cover in her left hand. Carefully, she took the pillow away from Shadow's face.

"Five more minutes", the dark hedgehog yawned as he reached for his blanket so he could block the sunlight.

"Shadow the Hedgehog", Amy said motherly. "May I ask what happened to this?" she asked, holding the cover next to her boyfriend.

"What?" Shadow opened his eyes tiredly. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the half ripped cover. He looked up at Amy, who had a pretty disappointing look on her face. Sighing to himself, he sat up on the couch. "Ok", he started. "Shade did it."

"Huh?" the Rose raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Shadow, his hands are smaller than yours. There's no way that he could've done that."

"Well, he stole it from me, and we had a little tug-a-war action", the male answered. "I mean, he knows."

"But he told me that you did it", Amy said afterwards.

Raising an eyebrow, Shadow looked at Shade. Meanly, the chao stuck his tongue at him. Shadow growled a little with exasperation. Could Amy really believe a mean chao instead of him?

"Well?" Amy tapped her right foot impatiently.

"I'm telling you, we accidentally ripped it", Shadow confessed.

"Chao (We)?" Shade looked at him annoyingly.

"…Forget about it", Amy sighed as she lowered her head. "It's no big deal. I mean, we have some more cover. But don't let it happen again", she warned.

"I think you should tell that to Shade", the black hedgehog crossed his arms.

"Hey, don't be so mean to Shady", Amy defended the chao. "I mean after all, he is new to this place." Shade stuck his tongue at Shadow again with an evil smirk.

"_Ooh, that little…" _Shadow narrowed his eyebrow furiously.

Minutes later, Amy threw the ripped cover in the trashcan and decided to make breakfast. Once again, Shadow and Shade glared at each other infuriatingly with their arms crossed. At first, Shadow blinked and Shade blinked also. Once again, another copy-cat battle. Second, Shadow showed his teeth a little with aggravation and Shade did the same. They stuck their tongues at each other, placed their hands on their hips, and then looked away from each other.

Amy saw it all and sweatdropped. Ignoring them, she sat Shadow's plate on the table. It had pancakes, sausages, scrambled eggs, and a piece of toast with grape jelly on it. Before he grabbed the fork, Shade pointed at something behind him with his jaws dropped in fear. Falling for his trick, Shadow looked back. Nothing dangerous was there. All he saw behind him was the living room nice and clean. As he turned back around, he noticed that his plate has been cleaned off completely! Raising an eyebrow, he looked at Shade, who was still sitting on the table innocently. He knows that he ate his food.

"Here you go, Shade", Amy sat the chao's plate on the table that had the same food on it.

"Chao (Yay)!" Shade exclaimed happily. Shadow slapped his forehead.

Later that afternoon, Shade was crawling on the floor, looking for something interesting. He looked under the couch and found a handgun. Smiling excitedly, he pulled it out. Suddenly, Shadow came in (with his bandages off) and snatched it away from him.

"No."

"Chao (Give it)", Shade reached his hand for the gun.

"No", Shadow repeated and sat the gun on the TV.

"Chao (Hmph)", Shade crossed his arms.

"Hmph", Shadow crossed his arms also.

"Oh, for peace sakes, will you two just grow up already?" Amy shrugged as she slapped her forehead.

"I could but he's being so rude", Shadow looked at the chao who had his tongue out at him impolitely.

"Well, just be nice to him, Shadow", Amy shrugged her shoulders.

"…" The dark hedgehog slapped his forehead. "I'm going out for a little bit", he heads to the door and puts on his shoes.

"Hey, while you're out, can you buy some toys for Shade?" the pink hedgehog asked kindly.

"Why me?" Shadow turned to her.

"Hey, I gotta clean up the house, Shadow", Amy placed her hands on her hips with an annoyed look on her face. "Please, just for me?" she said with a smile and her eyes widened sweetly. Yet again, he fell for it.

"…Fine, I'll do it", Shadow sighed and walked out of the house. He closed the door behind him and walked down a couple steps. All he wanted to do was to get some fresh air and to get away from that trouble making chao. Seriously, what does Amy see through that evil thing anyway? Sighing again, he looks to his right and prepares to take off.

"Yo, Faker, what's up?" a familiar voice said behind him.

"Great", Shadow looked back to see his number one rival. "Not you again."

"So, what's up?" Sonic asked again with a cocky smile.

"None of your damn business."

"Still mean, aren't cha?"

"I could get meaner."

"I see."

"What do you want?"

"Well, I'm bored. Let's you and me have a little race", Sonic challenged him.

"Not now," Shadow replied impatiently. "I have something else to do right now."

"What's the matter? Scared?" the blue hedgehog said sarcastically. "Ooh, I'm Shadow the Hedgehog. I'm the Ultimate Life Form Chicken", he teased him and began to mimic some clucking sounds.

"I'll take you down", the black hedgehog narrowed his eyebrows spitefully.

"That's the spirit!" Sonic said with a thumb's up. "We'll start here, go ahead to where you're standing, travel across Emerald Coast, then at the park, then at the Mystic Ruins, and then back here. Got it?"

"Hm", Shadow nodded. Ever since he met Sonic, they always despised each other. Sure they may work together at times, but most of all, they'll go against each other through battles and races. He and Sonic got in their starting points.

**I'm gonna hit you with Sonic speed**

"Ready…" Sonic spoke actively. "Set…Go!"

And off, the two took off running in fast hedgehog speed. Amy watched the whole scene out of a window near the front door. Shade was sitting on her right shoulder as he watched the two also.

"Chao (Where's he going)?" he looked up at Amy.

"Not again", the female hedgehog sighed.

For starters, Sonic and Shadow dashed down through the streets. They jumped over a few cars and avoided some construction sites. Then they decided to hop from one building to another. Sonic was on the left side of the neighborhood while Shadow was on the right. They looked at each other coldly and went a little faster.

"And we see down there that Sonic and Shadow are racing each other by jumping from building to building", a news reporter said as he was riding on a helicopter while the camera man was zooming in on the hedgehogs.

**I'm gonna hit you with Sonic speed**

**Ha!**

**Ha!**

**Ha!**

**Ha!**

Soon enough, the race continued at Emerald Coast. Sonic was speeding his way pass the sandy areas. However, he noticed something. He looked around and found that his rival wasn't around.

"Where'd he go?"

"Cowabunga, dude!" a surfer said as Shadow surfed the waves with his air shoes. The hedgehog then skated his way from an upcoming tidal wave. "WIPE OUT!!" the blonde surfer gasped surprisingly then got washed away.

**Riding on a wave of Super Sonic**

**Uhh!**

**Uhh!**

**Uhh!**

"Uh-oh", Sonic noticed the water waves coming and started going a little faster. But then, the waves caught him off guard and splashed him to the ground. As the water went back to the ocean slowly, Sonic sat up with seaweed on his face. Angrily, he brushed them off and spits out some sand. He looked up and saw Shadow was further ahead of him. "GRRR!! DAMN THAT SHADOW!" he clenched his fists. Speedily, he got up and followed his arch-rival.

**I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna show you**

On and on, the two kept going at head to head with each other. They ran through a few obstacles, went over some loop-de-loops, bounced on some springs, and hopped from one rock to another without falling into the water. Soon enough, they reached to a large bolder in a grassy area, touched it, and then went back to where they just came from. They were neck to neck.

**I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna show you**

Curtly after leaving Emerald Coast, the two raced on through the park. They went around the circular track, up a few hills, and so on. Looking at each other again, they growled heatedly as they went even faster!

**I'm gonna show you true speed**

**Ha!**

**Ha!**

**Ha!**

**Ha!**

After reaching to the Mystic Ruins, they continued speeding on. They started hopping from tree branch to tree branch at the same pace. Even though it's just a race, they were serious about it.

**Riding on a wave of Super Sonic**

**Uhh!**

**Uhh!**

**Uhh!**

Getting tired of the tree branches, they got down and raced through a long path. At the same time, they avoided hitting some trees, jumped over some rocks, and dodged some hanging tree branches. They continued on with the race…

**I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna show you  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna  
I'm gonna show you  
I'm gonna show you Super Sonic speed  
Super Sonic speed  
Sonic speed  
Sonic speed**

Minutes later, they were now in the middle of the jungle. Nonstop, they continued rushing their way through. How long will this race take? Shadow has to hurry up and beat Sonic fast so that way he can do his errand, or else Amy will get mad. He did speed up but Sonic caught up to him again.

"What's wrong? Cold feet?" he turned to him with an arrogant smirk.

"You wish", Shadow turned to him unkindly. As he turned back around, he suddenly tripped over a rock and fell foward. "Shit!" he said as that happened.

"Ha-ha! Sucker!" the blue hedgehog began to run backwards. That was until his back slammed into a tree, causing some flickies to fly away unpleasantly. "Oww", he groaned painfully as he slid down to the ground. He rubbed the back of his head gently.

Carefully, Shadow stood up on his hands and sat down. He looked at the bottom of his leg and noticed a bleeding rash on it. Slowly, he stood up, trying to ease the pain as he did so. Still nursing his head, Sonic stood up too. Panting softly, the two hedgehogs looked at each other with hatred.

"Ok, change of plans", Sonic was the first one to speak. "You and me, right now", he got in his fighting position.

"I'm sorry, are you offering me to kick your ass?" Shadow asked with a sarcastic smirk.

"Fucker, I'll be the one kicking your ass!" Sonic pointed at him rudely.

"Bring it on", Shadow waved a hand to come.

Letting out a small livid growl, the blue hedgehog charged at him. He raised a fist, but Shadow swiftly tilted his neck to the side. He tried to hit him with his right fist, but Shadow tilted his head to his left.

"_What in the world? He's faster!"_ Sonic thought with shock as he kept missing.

"Now it's my turn", Shadow smirked. He stopped another upcoming fist, head buts the blue hedgehog, and sends him to the same tree by a punch.

"What the…Ugh!!" Sonic struggled to get up, but his back was still in pain.

"Unlike you, I train", the dark hedgehog crossed his arms. "Your weakness disgusts me", he narrowed his eyebrows coarsely.

Tired of his mouth, Sonic growled and charged at him again. This time, he tried to punch and kick him, even though he kept missing. Out of nowhere, Shadow did a round kick and sent him sliding across the ground backwards. Now it was on. Sonic turned into a spinball and Shadow did the same. Then they started clashing into each other, over and over again.

Twenty minutes later, they stopped to catch their breath. Sonic was on his knees as Shadow was lying back against a tree. Both of them had a bruise on their cheeks from the punches, cuts on their arms from their attacks, and a line of blood fell from their lips and down to their chins. Plus, they had pain in their stomachs, shoulders, and started to get a headache. This was the longest match that they were having right now. Panting still, they looked at each other briskly. Easily, Sonic got up on his feet and charged at his rival. Shadow charged at him also. They raised a fist at each other as they growled with their teeth showing.

"YOU LITTLE…!" the two said until they ended up punching each other harmfully. Sonic was hit in his right jaw as Shadow was hit in the left. Blood flew from their lips as their faces were turned away. Because of that impact, they were sent back into a tree damagingly. Seconds later, they fell forward and became unconscious. It was a tie.

Hearing some flickies chirping, Shadow opened his eyes. He was facing to his left, seeing nothing but the path ahead and more trees. Stiffly, he pushed himself up and relaxed himself against the tree behind him. He spits out some blood to the side and panted a little. Before long, Sonic came too, pushing himself up and lying back against a tree. Steadily, he wiped some blood from his bottom lip as he panted exhaustedly.

"Damn", Sonic said through his pant. "That was…a pretty hard punch."

"Yeah…" Shadow said weakly as he stood up. "I won the battle, and now I'm about to win the race", he smirked and took off fast.

"Dammit!" Sonic jumped up to his feet angrily, wobbled again, and then followed his foe.

How long will it be before they finish the race? Who will win? Will those two ever get along??

* * *

Done! Wow, this chappie was long, but heck, I didn't want to make it short again. Anyway, hopped you enjoyed this chappie. See ya on the next! Still, will they EVER get along??


	7. First Battle

Finally, another day off! Now this chappie could get really long, but that's ok. Anyway, beware of mild violence and a little bit of blood in this chappie…

* * *

Looking down at the city from above, Mephiles had his arms crossed. It didn't take him too long to find Station Square, since he does have running capabilities like Shadow. So now, it was time for him to get to work. However, he wanted to have a little fun first.

"Hmph. Look at those fools. They don't know what might hit them", he said as he formed a black energy ball. He threw it at one of the buildings and caused it to go off into flames. He giggled evilly as he heard the residents screaming in fear. Strongly, he threw a few more energy balls and caused more damage to the city. To get a better look, he vanished and reappeared on a street. After that, he fired more dark energy balls everywhere and caused more explosions.

Just then, a few police cars pulled up to where the explosions took place. About six officers got out of the cars with their handguns ready. They widened their eyes as they saw a dark hedgehog.

"Wait", one of the cops spoke. "Isn't that Shadow the Hedgehog?"

"Fools", Mephiles glared at the humans dangerously. "I am Mephiles. Fear me!" he created a bigger energy ball and threw it at the group.

"INCOMING!" another cop said fearfully.

Before the cops could've escaped, the energy ball blasted them away powerfully. They were on the ground unconscious. Blood was escaping from their heads and mouths. Mephiles was starting to enjoy this. Yes, he does have to find Shadow and a Chaos Emerald, but causing annihilation was his hobby now. Maybe if he caused more destruction, then he and Shadow could meet face to face. Continuing on with his fun, his eyes glowed and they shot lasers at some residential buildings ahead, causing them to go up in deep flames.

Back with the rivals, they were now racing their way back to Station Square. But then they stopped once they reached up to a hilltop at the park. Far away, they can see a lot of smoke and fire. Plus, they could hear some screaming from innocent people, fire trucks coming to the rescue, police cars rushing in, and the city alarm systems blurring loudly.

"What the-?" Sonic widened his eyes in shock.

"_This is bad",_ Shadow thought to himself as he continued looking at the city. He saw a couple explosions that were destroying things ahead. The explosions were getting near somewhere. _"Amy!"_ He thought worriedly and took off to the city in flames.

"Hey, wait up!" Sonic called out as he followed him.

Many seconds later, the two made it to the city. They could see a lot of buildings on fire, dead or possibly unconscious citizens lying on the sidewalks, and a lot of cars in wrecks. Instead of standing around, Shadow went on ahead with Sonic by his side. Just a little while later, they stopped when they saw a mysterious hedgehog using his dark powers to cause some more buildings ahead of him to blow up.

"You!" Shadow pointed at the villain disgracefully.

"Identify yourself! Who are you!?" Sonic demanded.

Hearing their voices, the dark hedgehog turned around. He walked forward a little, so the two hedgehogs could see a better view of him. Shadow was the first one to widen his eyes. The hedgehog that stood before him looked like him! However, the evil hedgehog had piercing green eyes, dark gray streaks on his body, bracelets, and shoes, and he didn't have a mouth. Sonic rubbed his eyes, making sure that he wasn't seeing things.

"What's going on?"

"Hmm…" Mephiles turned to the black and red hedgehog. "You must be Shadow, correct?"

"How'd you know?" Shadow asked snappily. "Who are you?"

"Well, you can call me Mephiles", the dark hedgehog chuckled. "As you can see behind me, this city is done for."

"Not if I can help it!" the blue hedgehog charged at him.

"Hey, hold on!" the black and red hedgehog called him out to stop.

"Take this!" Sonic raised a fist, but Mephiles grabbed it. He gasped to himself. Coldly, Mephiles punched him in the gut, causing him to cough out some blood. On his knees, he panted barely.

"Is that the best you can do?" Mephiles asked mockingly. Sonic turned to him with an angry look on his face. By a blink of an eye, he sent Sonic back by a hardcore punch.

"Uhh…" Sonic groaned in pain. He slowly got up and got in his fighting position.

"You just don't give up, do you?" the criminal crossed his arms.

"I'll take care of him", Shadow gathered his powers. "Chaos Spear!" he launched his attack. Strangely, Mephiles' eyes glowed and the golden arrows stopped. Then they turned black.

"Chaos Spear, reverse!" Mephiles commanded the attack to hit Shadow.

Hurriedly, Shadow and Sonic dived out of the way. They got up and turned to the psycho. How in the world can he do that? If he can control their powers, then they shouldn't use their attacks. Angrily, Shadow charged at him. He turned into a spinball and aimed at him. Although, Mephiles kicked him back, sending him sliding across the street. Growling furiously, Shadow got back up to his feet.

"I got this", the blue hero said and turned into a spinball. He aimed at Mephiles, but he was suddenly stopped, due to Mephiles' powers. At that moment, the villain shot lasers from his eyes and sent Sonic back. "AAAAAAHHH!!" the blue hedgehog screamed in dull pain as he was sent back. Shadow was able to grab one his hands, but dropped him on the ground after that. "Thanks", he said weakly as he got up again.

"Get a load of this", Mephiles spoke as he charged up his dark powers. He formed them around large shards of glass. "Die!" he shot the glasses at the hedgehogs.

Speedily, the heroes got out of the way. However, the glass shards turned back around and aimed at them. Just as they turned around, they blocked their faces. The glass shards stabbed them in the arms and legs as they yelled in pain. They fell to their knees. Shadow held his left shoulder, because he was losing more blood at that area.

"Dammit", he hissed as he turned back to Mephiles. He noticed a black energy ball was heading towards him.

"Look out!" Sonic pushed him out of the way. However, he got blasted away until his back slammed onto the front of a destroyed Cadillac. He fell forward and blacked out.

Steadily, Shadow got up and looked at his new enemy. He charged at him again. Over and over again, he kept trying to make a hit at him, missing as that happened. Just then, Mephiles grabbed one his upcoming fists, punched him in the gut, and then strangled him by the neck.

"Kuh-!" the dark hero tried to breath.

"I've waited for a long time for this", Mephiles narrowed his eyebrows maniacally. "Now you will die."

"Oh yeah?" Shadow opened his eyes fiercely. He was able to kick Mephiles off of him and got down on his knees, gasping for some air. Once he was able to breath again, he looked ahead and saw Mephiles charging at him. He quickly got up and charged at him as well. They kept blocking each other's attacks. Finally, Shadow punched Mephiles across the face and sent him back.

"You'll pay for that!" Mephiles yelled irately as he got back up.

"Ugh…" Sonic opened his eyes slowly. He carefully pushed himself off the ground and stood back up. "What happened?" he looked around.

"Look into my eyes", Mephiles' eyes began to glow.

"Wha-!?" Shadow spoke until he felt a sting in his heart. "KUH!!" he held his chest in pain. "What are you doing to me!?"

"It's simple", Mephiles chuckled as he raised his right hand in front of him. "I'm trying to stop your heart."

The black and red hedgehog continued to hold his chest as he groaned. He got down on his knees slowly as he gripped his chest tighter. He hollered in pain when he felt his heart was being squeezed too death. Mephiles laughed evilly.

"Shadow!" Sonic gasped. "Sonic Wind!" he launched his attack. He was able to catch Mephiles off guard and cut his right arm open.

"Oh, you little-!" Mephiles turned to the blue hedgehog irritably.

Shadow panted slowly as he felt his heart beating at normal pace. Did that really just happen? Now he really needs to watch out for Mephiles. Yet, he never thought that anyone could do such a thing! For once, Shadow was lucky that Sonic was there to help.

"I might as well get you out of the way first", Mephiles said and charged at the blue boy.

"_Here he comes!"_ Sonic thought courageously as he got in his fighting position. He began to dodge every upcoming fists and kicks. After that, he elbowed the foe in the gut and sent him far back by a strong punch. Once that was done, he ran up to check up on his comrade. "Shadow!"

"I'm ok", the other hedgehog said softly as he panted. Then he slowly got up on his feet.

Up ahead, Mephiles got up and looked ahead. Through the flames, he could see his opponents. Focusing on his powers, he made one of the police cars go up and aimed it at the two hedgehogs. Then he threw it at them.

"Uh-oh!" Sonic gasped when he noticed the fiery car coming towards the two.

Out of nowhere, someone punched the car out of the way. The hedgehogs opened their eyes, thinking that they were safe. In front of them, a red echidna stood as he crackled his fists.

"Knuckles", Sonic said in relief.

"Made it just in time, huh?" Knuckles turned back to the hedgehogs with a small smirk.

"How'd you find out about this?"

"Let's say an invisible friend told me."

"Espio?" Shadow guessed.

As Mephiles was walking his way to the trio, he was suddenly punched down. He didn't know who it was because his new foe was invisible! Before he stood up straight, he suddenly received a long and hard 30 punch combo in the stomach. By the last punch, he was sent back, but he did a backwards roll and stood up. Espio appeared right next to Knuckles.

"Espio! Good to see ya", Sonic gave him a thumb's up.

"Thought I might come here and lend you a hand", the chameleon said without looking at him. "I saw this happening on the news and decided to come here."

"Yeah, I came here for a little visit, but then I noticed this place in flames", Knuckles told his story.

"Who else is here?" Shadow asked.

"Now you'll die-!" Mephiles got ready to throw an energy ball at them. He was suddenly caught off guard when he got kicked back. He sat up and looked ahead. A female white bat landed in front of the two hedgehogs.

"Rouge", Shadow said surprisingly.

"Long time no see", the bat turned to him with a small smile.

"Grr, it doesn't matter!" the scoundrel got back on his feet. "I'll kill you all not matter what!" His eyes glowed fiercely.

"Heads up!" Sonic pointed ahead. He and the others were able to avoid the lasers by jumping out of the way.

Getting furious, Mephiles threw more energy balls at them. However, he missed. At that moment, Espio and Knuckles charged at him. He did throw a few more energy balls at them, but they hopped out of the way. Espio threw a few kunais at him, but he slapped them to the side. Knuckles picked up a ruined van and threw it at Mephiles. He destroyed the upcoming vehicle by firing more lasers from his eyes.

"Enough with this!" he growled with fury. He was able to send Espio and Knuckles back by his powers. Rouge charged at him as she growled. He stopped her left leg from kicking him again and grabbed her by the neck. He began to choke her, listening to her gasping for air.

"Rouge!" Shadow called out for her.

"I got this", Espio pulled out another kunai and turned invisible. He charged at Mephiles. However, the bad guy was able to sense him, so he threw Rouge to him. Espio caught her safely.

Up in the air, Mephiles appeared and charged up his powers. Black aura circled around him as he growled. The five creatures looked up at him, wondering what he was planning on next. Powerfully, the dark hedgehog created a huge energy ball made out of black fire with his own two hands! Crossly, he threw it down at the group.

"Run!" Knuckles yelled as he and the others turned around and began to run for their lives.

Not a moment too soon, they were blasted forward, while getting some burns at the same time. They landed on their stomachs and blacked out. A large hole was made in the middle of the street. Shadow opened his eyes slowly and stood on his left knee. He looked around and noticed his comrades were unconscious with burnt marks. Turning back around, he saw Mephiles walking to him with murder in his eyes. Hissing in great soreness, he stood up.

"It's over", Mephiles said as his eyes glowed. He caused Shadow to stop moving and to stand in his place. Then he began to control his enemy's heart again. He watched him wince in pain as he showed his teeth with rage and pain. "Die!" Mephiles clenched his right hand.

"Ah-!" Shadow gasped out some blood as his heart suddenly stopped. He fell forward and blacked out.

"Finally", the dark hedgehog said. "Now time to have some more fun", he turned around and walked away from the group. Through the whole day, he caused more destruction to the town.

* * *

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! SHADOW-KUN!! Will he live? And what about the others? Tune in next time!


	8. Eggman again? Bodyguards?

Previously, on the last chappie, Shadow and the others faced Mephiles the Dark. However, they were all knocked unconscious by an explosion and Mephiles was able to stop Shadow's heart. Will he live? And what about the others? Well, we're just gonna have to find out about that now!

* * *

On a small island very far away from Station Square, a base was in place. Inside the base was Dr. Eggman, an evil scientist who tries to take over the world, but is always defeated by Sonic and the others. He was sitting in the control room, surfing through the channels on his overlarge sized computer screen, until he came across the news channel.

"We interrupt this program for an unbelievable broadcast", a female reporter started. "Just minutes ago, a sudden black hedgehog came out of nowhere and began to attack the city by his dangerous powers. The police almost identified it as Shadow the Hedgehog, however, it was clear that it wasn't him. And as this evil hedgehog was destroying Station Square, he has killed dozens and left hundreds of thousands injured. Even Sonic and his comrades got terribly injured in a battle against him. Now they've been taken to the hospital along with others who've barely survived. In other news, the same hedgehog stole a green Chaos Emerald from a local jewelry store seconds after he defeated Sonic and the others. According to surveillance cameras, he identified himself as Mephiles. We'll keep up with the updates after a short commercial break."

"WHAT!?" Eggman hollered wrathfully as he clenched his fists. "Whoever's destroying the city is ruining my plans to create the Eggman Empire! Robots!" he turned to see a few of his robots mopping the floor. "Build me some new inventions and get my airship ready!"

"Yes, doctor", the robots saluted and left the room.

"Hmph", Dr. Eggman pondered to himself. _"That hedgehog…Don't tell me that he's another Black Arms' creature…"_ he thought meanly.

At the hospital, a lot of injured people were taken to their rooms so they could rest. Same with the heroes. Espio, Knuckles, and Rouge only suffered a small head injury and a few burns on their arms. So they didn't seem to be in bad shape. However, after Knuckles and Rouge woke up, they suddenly left.

Sonic and Shadow were taken to the emergency room, because they were losing so much blood. However, Shadow needed more medical attention because when the ambulance found him, they found out that he wasn't breathing. Through a few hours, the two hedgehogs received a blood transfusion and had their cuts sealed up with stitches. After they got done with Sonic, they focused more on bringing Shadow back. He had a breathing mask on him as the doctors used the defibrillators multiple times. Luckily, he survived. It was a miracle.

The next day, Amy decided to visit everyone, along with Shade. She stopped by at Espio's room, and found the chameleon sound asleep. She left him a _Get well soon_ card and left. Next, she found Sonic's room and took a good look at him. He had bandages on his arms and some around his head. Quietly, she left him a card and a sack of chilly dogs on a dresser which was right next to his bed.

"Shadow-chao (Where's Shadow)?" Shade asked as he was sitting on Amy's head.

"I hope he's ok", she said restlessly as she left the room. Once she found Shadow's room, she walked in and gasped. He was lying in his bed with a breathing mask on, wires attached to him from the life monitor, and had some bandages on his arms and some on his head. "Shadow!" Amy ran to him.

"Shadow-chao-chao (Oh, my god, Shadow)!" the black chao said worriedly.

"Oh, Shadow", the pink hedgehog said with tears. She slowly felt Shadow's cheek.

Meanwhile, Vector and Charmy came in to visit also. First, they went to Espio's room and found him sleeping in his bed. Quietly, they reached up to him.

"Wakie-wakie, sunshine!" Vector shook the chameleon.

"Huh?" Espio opened his eyes. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, silly", Charmy said with a smile. "You just got a bump on your head and a few burns on your arms.

"Ohh", Espio looked at his bandages. "How long have I been in here?"

"For a day now", the crocodile replied. "But anyway, we got some bad news. That guy who attacked this city stole a Chaos Emerald."

"That's not good", the chameleon said seriously.

"We might as well tell Sonic and the others about this", the bumble bee suggested.

"Good idea!" the crocodile smiled. "C'mon, Espio", he pulled the chameleon out of his bed.

"Wait, I should stay in bed", Espio spoke.

"You're fine, now let's go", Vector ran out of the room.

"Wait for me!" Charmy buzzed out of the room in order to follow them.

Seconds later, they reached to Sonic's room. The blue hedgehog was sound asleep. However, Vector and Charmy went up to him. They figured if they told him what happened, then maybe they could form the team together in order to stop Mephiles.

"I think we should leave him alone", Espio suggested.

"Well, I think not", Vector disagreed with him. "Hey, get up!" he shook the hedgehog a little.

"SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, WAKE UP!!" Charmy yelled loudly, causing Sonic to open his eyes quickly and to make Espio and Vector cover their ears.

"Oww, not so loud", Sonic groaned a little as he rubbed his head. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, Sonic", the crocodile answered. "But anyway, we gotta tell you something. That guy who attacked you guys stole a Chaos Emerald!"

"What?" Sonic widened his eyes alarmingly.

"Not only that, but he trashed most of the city", Charmy added.

"That bastard", the blue hedgehog clenched a fist gently, because of his injuries. "He'll pay for what he did. How long do I have to be in here?" he asked.

"To be honest, I say for about a week or so", the lime green crocodile rubbed the back of his head.

"From the look of your injuries, I say Vector's guess is probably right", Espio said.

"Anyone else here?" the blue hero asked.

"Well, we haven't seen Knuckles, Rouge or Shadow yet", the chameleon replied.

"But we might as well tell them what's going on here", the bee recommended.

"Good idea", Vector agreed. "Hey, someone left you a gift", he pointed next to Sonic.

Curiously, the blue hedgehog looked to his right. He saw a card and a small white sack. Suddenly, his nose twitched as if he can smell something from the bag. He tired to reach for the gifts, but Vector kindly gave them to him. He opened the card and saw that it was from Amy. Then he opened the sack and found a couple chilly dogs.

"Whoo-hoo! Thank you, Amy!" he held up one of the chilly dogs proudly.

"I think you should tell that to Amy when you see her next time", Espio said with his arms crossed.

"Is she here?" Sonic wondered.

"We'll go find her and tell her that you're awake", Charmy said. "By the way, we brought you a present as well."

"What is it?" the blue hedgehog turned to him.

"Walla!" Vector pulled out a small T-shirt that had Sonic's name horribly knitted in blue color.

"That's nice, but…" Sonic sweatdropped. "It's too small."

"Dang it!" Vector threw the shirt down furiously.

"You know, that almost looks like one of my shirts", the bee rubbed his chin suspiciously. "But anyway, let's go find Amy."

"Ok, let's go", Vector nodded and walked to the door. "Catch ya later!" he waved at the hedgehog.

"Uh-huh", Sonic said as he was chewing the chilly dog.

(Back with Amy...)

"Shadow", she spoke, trying to hold in her sobs. "Just to let you know, I'm not mad that you didn't get to buy any toys for Shade yesterday. And, I'm glad that you're alright. And so is Shade. Plus, the house is still standing, and we were lucky that we didn't get attacked. I mean…When I heard about your condition, I was so cared that I might lose you." More tears dropped down from her eyes and they fell to the floor. She took off her locket and placed it in Shadow's right hand. "Please don't die, Shadow", she sniffled sadly. "I love you." At that moment, she got down her knees, wrapped her arms around her head, and buried her face on Shadow's chest with sobs and tears.

"Shadow-chao (Poor Shadow)", Shade said sorrowfully. He wiped a couple tears from his eyes and looked away.

(Returning with the Chaotix…)

"Let's see…Where in the world is Shadow's room?" Vector pondered as he and the others were going through the hallway.

"Hey, look", Charmy pointed up ahead.

The trio stopped and looked ahead. They saw Amy, who had her eyes covered with tears. A black chao was sitting on her head as he had his head down with depression. The pink hedgehog walked pass the Chaotix, not noticing them because of so many tears in her eyes. Shade looked back at them, wondering who they were. However, it didn't matter to him much. Soon enough, they left the hospital.

"Poor girl", Espio felt sorry for Amy.

"I don't like seeing her sad", Charmy frowned a little.

"Me neither", Vector rubbed the back of his head mournfully. "Come on", he walked to a room that had its door opened. "OH MY GOD!" he gasped in shock.

"What?" Charmy and Espio came to him. They took a peek in the room and gasped.

And there, they saw Shadow resting. He was in a much worse condition than Sonic, considering he had on a breathing mask and wires attached to his left arm that were connected to a life monitor next to him. Maybe that's why Amy was so sad. Slowly, the Chaotix came up to the black hedgehog.

"This is bad", Espio was the first one to speak. "But at least he's still alive."

"Hmm…" the leader rubbed his chin. "We have to tell him what happened yesterday."

"But he's unconscious", Charmy affirmed.

"Then we're just gonna have to wait", Vector looked at his watch that read 12:30.

Two hours later, the Chaotix were still waiting for Shadow to wake up. Espio was standing against a wall with his eyes closed and his arms crossed, Vector was asleep while he was sitting on a wooden chair, and Charmy was zooming around the room with bore. Finally, Shadow opened his eyes gradually. He was surprised that he was still alive. Also, he noticed that the Chaotix were in his room waiting for him. Painfully, he sat up and took the breathing mask off of his lips. He released a large sigh.

"SHADOW, YOU'RE AWAKE!" Charmy surprised him by a huge hug.

"Charmy, let go", the hedgehog tried to breath.

"Hm?" Espio opened his eyes.

"What happened?" Vector yawned as he rubbed his eyes.

"SHADOW'S ALIVE, SHADOW'S ALIVE!" the bee released the hedgehog happily.

"Well, well! How was your nap, Shadow?" the crocodile waved nicely.

"Where am I?" Shadow asked everyone.

"In the hospital", the trio replied.

"Boy, we thought that you were a goner, Shadow", Charmy sighed in relief.

"Yeah…" Shadow was about to rub his head with his right hand, until something fell off and hit the floor.

"What's this?" Vector picked up a familiar necklace.

"Amy's necklace", the dark hero recognized it.

"That's Amy's?" the bee asked curiously.

"Is she here?" Shadow asked as he looked around.

"She left here a couple hours ago", Espio responded. "She probably gave you that necklace just to show that she was here."

Silently, the hedgehog looked at the locket. He wished that he woke up when Amy was here. Still, knowing that she was alive was good, but could she really be safe on her own? After all, he had to protect her, no matter what it costs. But because of his hardcore injuries, he might not be able to get to her. Just then, he thought of an idea.

"I have a favor to ask you guys", he spoke.

"What is it?" Charmy and Vector asked in union.

"I need you to watch over Amy for me until I heal up", Shadow explained. "That way she can be out of danger."

"Wait, are you saying that we have to be her…bodyguards?" Vector sweatdropped.

"Well, believe it or not, I don't think this city's 100 percent safe again", Espio turned to him. "Who knows what could happen."

"You can count on me!" Charmy said with pride. "I'll protect the lovely Amy Rose, even if it costs my own life! I'll use heat vision like Superman, do the web like Spiderman, and more!" he showed his none existing muscles.

"Um, yeah", the crocodile sweatdropped. "I think you watch too many cartoons, Charmy."

"So do you want us to check on her to see if she's alright?" the chameleon asked his pupil.

"That'll be great", the dark hedgehog nodded.

"Alright, let's go!" Vector jumped up from his seat.

"See ya later!" Charmy waved and buzzed out of the door as Vector ran behind him.

"Shadow", Espio spoke before he walked out of the room. The black hedgehog looked up at him peculiarly. "You may have failed the battle, but I'm not going to lecture you, not this time." With that said, he followed the other two.

At home, Amy was crying to herself on the couch. She had her face hidden on the pillow, even though it was pretty wet because of her tears. Shade was watching her cry as he patted her on the head. He felt bad for her and Shadow. True they don't like each other, but he does care about him. So he was cheerless to see him in the hospital unconscious. Moments later, there was a knock on the door. The female hedgehog stopped crying, wiped her tears, and took a few deep breaths. Then she got up and walked to the front door. When she opened it, she found the Chaotix standing there.

"Um, can I help you?" she asked inquisitively.

"Reporting for duty!" Vector and Charmy smiled as they saluted.

"What are you talking about?"

"We're here to protect you out of harm's way", the crocodile replied kindly.

"Basically, we're going to be your bodyguards for a little while", Espio looked away a little.

"Huh?" Amy raised an eyebrow oddly.

"Don't worry, Amy! Your knight in shiny armor is here!" Charmy said bravely as he bowed like a noble knight. "I'll protect you, even from giant spiders!"

"Which is Charmy's biggest fear", Espio rolled his eyes.

"No it's not", the bee hissed at him rudely. "Anyway", he turned back to the pink hedgehog sweetly. "If anyone tries to hurt you, I'll sting them with an iron stinger!" he showed his stinger.

"That's nice, but…I can take care of myself", Amy clarified calmly.

"Still, I wouldn't count on that", the chameleon responded kind of seriously. "After all, we may never know what could happen later on today. And besides, I don't think we're safe from Mephiles for long."

"Mephiles?"

"Just in case you didn't know, that was the guy who attacked this city", Vector stated.

"Well, still, I can protect me and Shade", the female hedgehog crossed her arms.

"Who's Shade?" Charmy asked.

"Chao (Hello)!" the black chao waved benevolently.

"Oh, hi, nice to meet cha", the bee waved back.

"I mean, I didn't ask you three to become my bodyguards", Amy continued to pout.

"No, but Shadow did", Espio replied with his arms crossed.

"Shadow? He's awake?"

"Yeah, he missed ya", Vector answered.

"Plus, Sonic's awake too", Charmy added.

"I need to see Shadow," Amy said with worry.

"Alright, follow me", Espio turned around and walked off.

A few minutes later, everyone made it back to the hospital unharmed. First, they decided to stop by at Sonic's room, where the hedgehog was thinking to himself.

"Sonic!" Amy gasped in shock.

"Amy?" the blue hedgehog looked at her. "Good, you're safe", he sighed in relief.

"Are you going to be ok?" the pink hedgehog asked.

"I'll be fine", Sonic smiled a little. "By the way, thanks for the card and the chilly dogs."

"Anytime", Amy smiled back.

"Well, anyway, we just came back here, because she wanted see ya awake", Vector spoke.

"Well, that's fine", the blue hedgehog kicked back. "I don't have a problem with that."

After visiting him again, the group walked back to Shadow's room. Inside, he was wondering what Amy was doing, if she was safe, and if he'll see her again. After all, he loves her, he would do anything to keep her safe. If he could just see her right now, he wouldn't feel so down. However, his wish came true when Amy rushed in.

"Amy", he widened his eyes.

"Shadow", Amy ran to him and gave him a hug.

"Shadow-chao-chao (Shadow, you're alive)!" Shade hugged the male hedgehog as well.

"I thought I was going to lose you", Amy hugged Shadow a little tighter as tears fell out of her eyes.

"It's ok. I'm alright", Shadow hugged her back with his right arm and petted Shade with his left hand. He looked over Amy's shoulder and saw the Chaotix waiting outside.

"But I got a question for ya", his girlfriend released him.

"What is it?"

"Why do they have to be my bodyguards?" she asked strangely.

"Chao (Yeah)", the chao released Shadow.

"Well…" He sighed. "Since I'm in this hospital, I can't protect you from any danger. I haven't heard from Knuckles or Rouge, Sonic's injured as well, and Tails doesn't seem to be brave enough. So I had no choice but to choose them."

"Still…" the female hedgehog said as she cocked and eyebrow.

"Please, just let them keep you safe until I get out of here", Shadow placed his hands on her shoulders. "I know you don't like the idea, but I don't want you to get hurt or killed. You or Shade. I promise you, as soon as I get out of here, I'll be stronger for you", he vowed. "Plus, you can visit me as long as you like."

"Well…Now that you're awake, I don't wanna leave", Amy said honestly. "I wanna stay here."

"As you wish, my love", Shadow caressed her right cheek affectionately. Softly, Amy took his hand and looked down at him with a smile. Shade was asleep on his fury chest. Closing their eyes, the two began to share a romantic kiss.

(Outside of the room…)

"Let's get something to eat", Espio suggested as he walked away from the closed door.

"Good idea", Vector followed him with his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, I'm hungry", Charmy rubbed his belly as he zoomed behind them.

(Meanwhile, in Sonic's room…)

"So this Mephiles guy did all of this?" Tails asked.

"Yeah", Sonic said with his arms crossed. "Not only that, but he stole a Chaos Emerald from here as well. By the way, have you heard from Knuckles and Rouge?"

"Well, Knuckles said that he was going to rest up on Angel Island, of course, he has to protect the Master Emerald. As for Rouge, I have no clue. But it doesn't matter. I don't trust her, much."

"I know. But you know what? We gotta keep our eyes open. Who knows, that Mephiles creep might come back to destroy the rest of the town. Or worse, he could be looking for the rest of the Chaos Emeralds."

"Well, then, if that's the case…" the fox stood up from a chair courageously. "Then we better stay focused and rest up a bit. I have a feeling that a new adventure is on the way."

"Yeah. I'll say", Sonic nodded with conformity.

Across the hospital, Mephiles was standing alone on top of a tall building with his arms crossed. His eyes glowed and he was able to see through the hospital. Once he came across that Shadow was still alive, he narrowed his eyebrows.

"So he's still alive, huh?" he spoke to himself sinfully. "Well, now. I guess I have to wait until he heals up, that way I can use him as a punching bag again. After all", he pulled out the Chaos Emerald that he stole. "I've already won my trophy. Hmmm-hmmm-hmmm-hmmm", he giggled evilly. He clutched the Emerald and disappeared.

* * *

Wow, what a long chappie. What will happen next? Tune in next time!


	9. A New Adventure Begins!

Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy with my summer job again…But here's another chappie! Enjoy! And I don't own anything.

* * *

A week has passed. Sonic and Shadow were able to heal up, Mephiles hasn't been seen, and the city was going under construction right now. Even so, the heroes kept their eyes open, just in case. On a late Saturday afternoon, Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails were having a discussion at the park.

"Ok, so what's up?" Sonic asked.

"I think that Mephiles guy is looking for the other Chaos Emeralds", Tails stated. "I think we should go after him and take the Emeralds by force."

"Yeah, but you know what happened to us when we fought him last time", Knuckles pointed out. "I mean, we're lucky enough that we survived."

"Still…We can't just let him get away", the blue hedgehog scratched his head.

"What do you think, Shadow?" the echidna turned to him.

"…Tails is right", Shadow spoke as he opened his eyes. "If we hold back now, then we'll regret it for the rest of our lives. I say we get going now."

"Where to?" Sonic had his arms behind his head with a small smile.

"Let's see…" the fox pulled out his laptop and started typing. The screen showed a digital map of the world. Then a light blue dot appeared at the North Arctic location. "According to my calculations, the next Emerald is located at Ice Mountain."

"Ice? Where there's snow?" the blue hero cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, I suggest you to get some snow gear and meet me at my workshop", Tails shrugged his shoulders. "See you guys later." With that said, he spun his two tails and flew his way back to his home.

"Yeah, I'll catch you guys later", Knuckles said and walked away from the hedgehogs.

Not saying a word, Shadow dashed his way home. Sonic took off in the opposite direction. However, no one knew that Rouge was listening to the whole conversation behind a tree near them. Sneakily, she flies her way to her apartment. She's always up to something…

Minutes later, Shadow got done packing everything that he needed for the long journey. He had on a pair of dark red earmuffs and a long red scarf wrapped around his neck. He carried a knapsack on his back, which was filled with medical supplies, some food, and his guns. Before he left the house, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind.

"Shadow, take me with you."

He knew it was Amy. He tried to sneak out, but his plan failed. It's not like he didn't want her to go with him. He just didn't want her to get hurt. Still, he has to go. All that matters to him was to get all of the other Emeralds, defeat Mephiles, and save the world once again. But will Amy understand that?

"I'm sorry. I must go alone", he said with his eyes closed.

"But what am I supposed to do while you're gone?" the pink hedgehog lift her head up with tears.

"Wait for me. I will return to you."

"But…We don't know that yet."

"…I know. However, I can't take you with me."

"Why not?" Amy tried to hold in her sobs.

"If you go, you might end up hurt. Or killed", Shadow lowered his head a little. "I don't want to lose you. And I need you to be safe from harm."

"Shadow…" Amy said softly. "I don't…I don't want you to think that I'm weak. I am strong. Just let me come with you and I'll prove it to you. And Shade has to come too, because I can't leave him by himself. Besides, we're a family, and a family sticks together."

"…"

"…?"

"…Are you sure you want to come with me?"

"…!"

"…"

"Yes."

"If that is what you wish. Pack up."

An hour later, Sonic and Knuckles met up again in front of Tails' workshop. The fox was standing in front of the X-Tornado as he looked at his watch. They were waiting for Shadow. The three of them had on earmuffs and scarves around their necks. Plus, they had small backpacks on their backs. What was taking Shadow so long? Has he changed his mind? From the look on Sonic's face, he was getting VERY impatient. Finally, Shadow came up to them while holding Amy (who had on pink earmuffs and a scarf) in bridal style.

"Don't ask why I'm late", the dark hedgehog warned.

"Amy, what are you doing here?" Sonic asked as he scratched the back of his head. _"As a matter a fact, what the heck is she doing with Faker holding her like that?!"_ he thought unbelievably.

"Don't worry about it", Amy got off of Shadow's arms. "Besides, I'm going with you too. And so is Shade."

"Chao (Hello)!" the dark chao pooped out of Amy's pink backpack as he waved.

_"_T_his could slow us down",_ Knuckles slapped his forehead.

"But Amy", Tails said with concern. "It could be dangerous."

"I SAID I'M GOING, DIDN'T'T I!?" the pink hedgehog pulled out her mallet angrily.

"Um…Yes?" the fox said in a frightened whisper.

"C'mon, let's go find the Emeralds", the blue hedgehog said impatiently.

"Don't you think you need a treasure hunter with you?" a familiar voice said.

"It can't be…" the echidna growled as he looked up. Landing in front of him was Rouge. She had on a purple scarf around her neck and held a lavender knapsack on her back. "What do you want, bat-girl?" Knuckles asked rudely.

"Oh, nice to see you too", the bat smirked at him. "Anyway, I came here to join you on this new adventure", she explained to the group.

"Um…I don't know", the fox pondered.

"Oh, c'mon", the bat crossed her arms. "Besides, I have a radar", she pulled out a hand sized device.

"Still, what makes you think that we can trust you?" Knuckles asked seriously.

"C'mon, we're on the same page, you know", Rouge shrugged her shoulders. "That hedgehog that we faced before is on the loose. If we work together, we could easily take him down and keep the Emeralds away from him."

The echidna stayed silent as he looked away. Everyone else was silent too. They all know that she'll do anything for jewels, no matter what. If she does go with them, they're gonna have to keep an eye on her, because she might want the Emeralds to herself. Still, they need all of the help to stop Mephiles. So there was no other choice. Suddenly, a red and black robot landed next to Shadow and Amy.

"Aah!" the pink hedgehog hid behind her boyfriend.

"Omega", Shadow recognized the robot.

"Long time no see", Rouge waved.

"I have come to tell you what is happening", the robot opened his eyes. "I have found out that Dr. Eggman is preparing to find the Chaos Emeralds."

"Great, just what we needed", Sonic shrugged as he slapped his forehead with annoyance.

"We have to find the other Emeralds before its too late", Omega spoke.

"Then let's go", Shadow agreed.

"You're not gonna lave us behind, are you?" another familiar voice said.

Everyone turned to see who said that. They saw Vector, Espio, and Charmy with their backpacks. What were they doing here? Were they planning on joining everyone? Could they be a big help?

"Them again", Knuckles raised an eyebrow oddly.

"We're here to join you guys!" Vector locked his fists bravely. "Together, we can save the world!"

"Besides, we all gotta stick together", Espio said afterwards.

"Let's go kick some butt!" Charmy said excitedly.

"Well…I guess there's no other choice", Tails shrugged his shoulders. "Let's get going."

"I'm keeping an eye on you", Knuckles warned Rouge.

"I'll take that as a compliment", Rouge said and winked at him, causing him to blush a little.

Hurriedly, everyone got settled in the X-Tornado. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Omega, and Rouge only stood on the wings readily. Tails turned on the ignition and the X-Tornado took off to the sky. Nobody notice that Mephiles heard everything on the other side of the workshop.

"Hmm…I might as well follow them and take the Emerald by surprise", he said evilly.

* * *

A new adventure begins! What will happen next? R&R! Sorry for taking too long. I ran out of ideas again! OH NOES!


	10. A Chilly Feeling

Crap, I'm back in school again. GRRR!! Anyway, since it's the weekend (yes, my first day back was Friday), I'll just update this next chappie! Enjoy!

* * *

Early the next day, the group made it to a snowy area further up north from where they live. Tails was a little bit sleepy, because he had to miss some nap time, since he was the pilot. Suddenly, rough winds started rushing in, causing the plane to shake side to side crazily.

"Whoa, ahh!" the fox widened his eyes as he tried to keep the plane in control.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked.

"This plane can't handle these rough winds", the orange fox said. "I gotta land this plane right away." With that said, he pressed the emergency landing button and the plane automatically landed on the cold ground, filled with sheets of deep snow.

Everyone got out of the X-Tornado. All of the sudden, the winds rushed back in, causing everyone to shiver. It was extremely cold out, way under zero degrees. Plus, the creatures had their eyes closed so the snow wouldn't get in their eyes. Eventually, the winds stopped, but the cold breeze still made everyone quiver. Except for Omega, because he was a robot of course.

"High winds approaching from the far north", he calculated.

"Thank you, weatherman", Sonic said sarcastically. "BRR!!" he rubbed his arms in order to keep himself warm.

"Where's the damn Emerald?" Rouge asked as she shivered some more.

"Searching for Emerald…" the red and black robot started turning his robotic head around in circles, so that way he can detect the powerful gem. His head looked to the left. "That way", he turned his whole body to that direction and pointed straight.

"Let's get moving", Knuckles spoke.

"Well…I might have to let you guys go without me", Tails said as he rubbed his hands. "See, I gotta keep an eye on the X-Tornado, so that way it won't get blown away and such."

"N-N-N-No p-p-p-p-p-prob-b-b-b-blem", Sonic raised up a frosty thumb's up.

"We must hurry", Omega stated. "Sometime soon, the winds will become more powerful and possible chance of hail."

"Wow! You can forecast the weather?" the bee asked with curiosity.

"But how are we going to get to the Emerald quickly?" Vector asked as he rubbed his arms. "The snow's kinda deep, so walking won't do anything."

"Hold that thought", Tails thought of something. As fast as he could, he ran back to his plane and looked inside for something. Then he pulled out a small brown briefcase. He opened it and found lots of capsules. He took about 4 of the capsules, sat the briefcase back, and went back to his team. "Watch this", he walked in front of everyone. He strongly threw the capsules and they exploded into smoke. When the smoke cleared, everyone were glancing at four highly developed snowmobiles.

"Wow", Charmy was the only one to make that comment.

"Those snowmobiles should be good enough to take you guys to the Emerald", the kitsune explained. "Good luck and hurry back. If the weather starts getting bad, I'll come look for you guys."

"Got it", Espio nodded.

Prepared for action, the gang went to the separate snowmobiles. Shadow got on the dark red one as Amy joined him. The Chaotix nabbed the light green one and got settled. Vector was going to be the driver. Knuckles was able to take the gray one as Rouge took the yellow one.

"What about me?" the blue hedgehog raised his hand unhappily.

"So what about you?" Knuckles said rudely.

"Oh, for peace sakes", Tails slapped his forehead. He got another capsule and threw it out in the opening. A blue snowmobile was seen after the smoke cleared up.

"Thank you", Sonic gave his buddy a thumb's up and rushed to the vehicle.

"I am fine. I have jet boosters built on my back", Omega said.

"Alright, now hurry", Tails waved goodbye.

Readily, Omega was the first one to take off, since he knew here the Emerald was. Next, Shadow drove his snowmobile quickly in order to follow him. Behind him, the Chaotix, Knuckles, Rouge, and Sonic followed him at steady speed. Tails went back to his plane so he could get things prepared for later.

Through a whole hour, the heroes rode through the snowy weather. Apparently, the winds were getting stronger than anyone thought it would. Luckily, the snowmobiles didn't get blown over. Plus, the snow was falling fast on everyone, so they were really cold. Finally, Omega stopped in front of a large cave. The others stopped their snowmobiles and got off of them.

"This way", Omega said as he walked into the cave.

Quietly, the others followed. The entrance was sort of small, so their snowmobiles wouldn't fit right through. Now they had to walk for the time being. Espio and Vector turned on their flashlights so everyone could see in the dark, icy cave. Amy couldn't stop shivering and kept rubbing her arms repeatedly. Suddenly, Shadow wrapped an arm around her and brought her close to his white fury chest. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist, beginning to feel warm. He blushed again. Behind them, Sonic raised an eyebrow. He didn't know that those two were close, considering he hasn't seen them since three months ago. In fact, he didn't like that scene. Was he getting jealous? Before long, he stopped as his nose started twitching.

"Ah…Ah…Ah…" he tried to hold his sneeze.

"Don't even think about it", Shadow looked back at him coldly.

"Ah-!" the blue hedgehog plugged his nose. He sighed in relief once he didn't feel any tickles in his nose.

"ACHOO!!" Charmy suddenly sneezed loudly, causing everyone to stop and listen to his echoes. "Sorry", he turned to everyone with an innocent smile as he sweatdropped.

"Cover your mouth, you idiot!" Vector snapped at him.

"Danger!" Omega looked up.

Cautiously, everybody looked up. Large icicles were starting to detach themselves from the ceiling. One of them was falling towards the three hedgehogs. Shadow carried Amy in bridal style and dived forward as Sonic did a backflip. However, more icicles began to fall down towards the others! All of them jumped out of the way. Just then, the ceiling shook and the icicles were close to head their way down.

"Run!" Knuckles yelled out.

Hurriedly, the group got up and ran for their lives. As they ran, they were able to avoid getting killed by the large icicles falling behind them. Because of the sharp ends crashed below, the ground started shaking as cracks formed. Cowardly, Charmy and Vector went up ahead of everyone as they screamed with fear.

"Hey! Where do you two think you're going!?" the chameleon yelled out to them ungratefully.

"We're getting the H-E-double hockey sticks out of here!" the bee said as he flew forward some more.

"Yeah, like what he said!" Vector panted as he tried to keep up with him.

Quickly, everyone reached to the exit and escaped before a lot more icicles could've killed them. Thinking that everything was alright, they stopped running to catch their breath. But was that the end of danger?

"Incoming avalanche!" the robot looked back and up.

"Say what!?" Sonic widened his eyes with fret.

Gasping to themselves, the gang looked back and saw lots of snow sliding down from a mountain's peak. Instead of standing around, they turned around and started running as fast as they could. However, the avalanche was catching up to them. They didn't think that it would be difficult to find the Emerald here. Turns out that it was rather challenging.

"Wait a minute, I can fly", Rouge said as she flapped her wings. Then she took off to the sky.

"Hey! Get back here!" the echidna commanded heatedly.

"Oh, please", the bat rolled her eyes.

"Oh, no you don't!" Charmy appeared in front of her by surprise. "I gotta keep my eye on you!" he pointed at her rudely.

"_Great",_ Rouge slapped her forehead. _"This could slow me down."_

Vector suddenly tripped on a rock and fell down. Although, he started spinning around into a huge snowball. Then he started rolling down the hill. Without warning, the snowball caught Espio while he was running. Then it started spinning down faster. Worried about the two, everyone else started running faster. The rushing snow started sliding down a lot faster. Successfully, it caught everyone off guard and made them slide down along with the snow.

"Emergency! Emergency!" Omega spoke.

"Yeah it is!" Sonic said fearfully.

Further ahead, Vector and Espio were getting dizzy from spinning in the giant snowball. Suddenly, they flew in the air, because the snowball reached to an edge. Only Vector screamed with panic as he and Espio fell down as they spun around. After that, the snowball landed on the ground, causing it to burst Espio and Vector out. Meanwhile, the others were still riding with the avalanche. But then, more snow covered them up until they reached to an edge. They were then pushed off and were sent down from 50 feet high! Amy shut her eyes tight, Sonic prayed to God to save his souls, Knuckles gulped, and Shadow and Omega were preparing themselves to land. Safely, Shadow (with Amy holding on to him still) and Omega landed as Sonic and Knuckles fell into the snowy ground, making holes in it. Off guard, the last of the avalanche fell on them. Charmy and Rouge were flying in air as they watched everything happened. Curiously, they went down and landed on the deep snow.

"Whoa", Rouge was the first one to comment.

"Guys?" Charmy looked around.

Espio used his kunai to cut the snow out of the way and reached to the surface. He gasped for some air and then climbed out of the small hole. Right behind him, Vector climbed out, landed on his stomach, and sighed with frustration. Omega used his hands as drills and got him, Shadow and Amy out of the snow. Knuckles dug his way out of the snow as Sonic used his spin dash to get free. Thankfully, they were able to live through that avalanche.

"Was it fun?" Charmy asked his detective buddies cheerfully. He received a small pound on the head. "Oww!" he rubbed his head in pain.

"No it wasn't fun!" Vector hollered angrily. "We almost got killed because of you!"

"I'm sorry", the bee lowered his head sadly.

"Hey, don't go so hard on him, Vector. It wasn't his fault. He just sneezed for God's sakes", Espio said calmly.

"Yeah, don't be mean to Charmy!" Amy pulled out her mallet and whacked Vector on the head.

"OUCH!!" the lime green creature rubbed his head with soreness and ache.

"_Oh…Amy's so nice and carefree to me",_ Charmy thought passionately as he looked at Amy with hearts in his eyes.

"We must keep going", the robot suggested.

"Lead the way", Rouge replied.

Minutes later, they stopped at a spot and noticed a path of ice in front of them. Omega pointed forward, letting everyone know that they were getting close to the jewel. First up, Sonic began to walk onto the ice. But then, he slipped.

"Aah!" he said and then fell on his back. "Ouch."

"Hm…" Knuckles said as he tip toed to the icy land. He was a little ahead of Sonic, but then he slipped and fell on his face. "Ouch! Dammit!" he stood up on his arms.

"D'oh!" Vector only took one step and slipped backwards.

"Too bad I can fly!" the bee teased as he flew forward. Omega and Rouge followed him until they reached to the other side.

Carefully, Espio began to walk onto the ice. He had to keep his balance and to be patient, so that way he won't face any injuries like the three did just now. He wasn't really nervous, just cautious on his surroundings and steadiness. As Sonic and Knuckles helped Vector up, Shadow and Amy ice skated to the other side, arm to arm.

"Oh sure! Not giving us a hand, eh?" the crocodile pouted.

Following Shadow's lead, Espio used his feet like ice-skates and reached to the other side. Now they all were waiting on Sonic, Knuckles, and Vector. The three timidly began to tip-toe forward as they had their arms opened out to the side so they could keep their balance. Knuckles did try to ice-skate, but he slid back until Sonic and Vector caught him. Slowly, they continued walking steadily. After a while, they were half way there.

"We're almost there", Sonic said with gladness.

"Finally", Vector sighed as he lowered his head. Accidentally, he stepped on the ice incorrectly and slid back. "Whoooa!" he said and landed on his back roughly. "Ouch!"

Shrugging with exhaustion and frustration, Sonic and Knuckles went back to aid him. Both of them tried to pull him up, but then they slipped and fell on their backs also. "Oww", the two said. All of the sudden, the three began to hear some crackles.

"Wait a minute…" the echidna sat up and looked at the cracks forming. "We're on thin ice!"

"SAY WHAT?!" Vector and Sonic turned to him surprisingly and frightfully.

At that moment, the three fell into the freezing cold water. They came back up to the surface as they were now frozen icicles. All of them had their arms around their chests for warmth, their chattering teeth were showing, and their bodies looked light blue.

"Oh dear", Espio slapped his forehead. "Who's going to help them out?"

After Omega saved the three slowpokes, the team continued forward. About ten minutes later, they came across an edge. As the sun started coming out a little, they took a peek and saw nothing but snowy hills far ahead. They looked down and saw a large frosted forest. If Shadow had an Emerald, he would've Chaos Controlled everyone further ahead in no time! But since he didn't have one, the group had to think a way on how to get going. From the looks of the forest, the trees were icy and the twigs looked pretty sharp, because of the ice attached to them.

"Any ideas?" Amy shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe we should find another way around", Charmy scratched his head.

"Negative", the red robot responded. "It would only waste our time."

"Great. Now what?" Knuckles threw his hands in the air for a few seconds and let them hang down to the side.

"Well, that's an interesting question to ask", an evil voice said.

"_That voice",_ Shadow narrowed his eyebrows suspiciously. He turned to his left and saw the same villain, standing there with his arms crossed. "It's him."

Wondering who he was talking about, everyone else looked at the evil hedgehog. Rouge, Espio, Sonic, and Knuckles narrowed their eyebrows meanly, since they remembered that heartless bastard. Omega began to scan the antihero, Charmy blinked twice with confusion, Vector had his jaws dropped in shock, and Amy gulped with fear. Yes, it was Mephiles.

"Hmm…" the dark hedgehog looked over at the female hedgehog. "Oh. I didn't notice you there, beautiful. My name is Mephiles", he glared at her evilly.

"Grr!!" Shadow puts an arm in front of Amy for protection.

"Come with me, young bride", Mephiles continued to communicate with Amy. "Let us take over the world with an iron fist. I will grant you any wishes you want. Name them and I will give them to you."

"Hmph!" Charmy zoomed up next to Amy and puts an arm in front of her also. "Nice try, buddy, but you're gonna have to ask somebody else."

"Charmy…" Amy looked at him surprisingly.

"_I know I don't want to be the damsel in distress, but what does HE see in HER than me?"_ Rouge thought with some sense of jealousy.

"Back for some more, eh?" Knuckles crackled his fists.

"Well, I don't want to waste my time", Mephiles answered. "I only came here to find the Emerald."

"Lemme guess, you followed us here", Espio spoke seriously.

"Correct", the evil doer chuckled. "I was surprised that you all were able to survive that avalanche. If you're wondering how you guys weren't able to notice me, I was able to hide in the shadows and watched you all from above."

"Just because you followed us here, doesn't mean that we're gonna let you take off without a fight", Sonic said frigidly.

"Oh, but I will. Not only I'll have the Emerald…I'll have the girl too", Mephiles looked at Amy again, making her tremble with fear.

"Well, you're gonna have to get through me first", Shadow said bravely.

"Is that so?" the black and gray hedgehog chuckled again. "Ok, then. This will be your funeral", he charged up his powers.

* * *

OH NO, PEOPLES! MEPHILES IS BACK! CAN SHADOW AND THE OTHERS DEFEAT HIM? WILL AMY BE SAFE FROM HARM? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!


	11. Ice, Ice, Baby

Gosh, the first week of school was such a drag. I couldn't even find some free time to update this story, because I'm getting a lot of homework already! So sorry for the long wait. Enjoy this chappie. I did my best…

* * *

Completely charged up, Mephiles' body was now surrounded by jet black aura. Everyone got prepared. Powerfully, Mephiles created a gigantic energy ball and tossed it to the heroes. Quickly, everyone dived out of the way. However, the energy ball exploded massively, sending each of them into different directions. Shadow was the first one to stand up on his arms and looked around. He saw Sonic, Knuckles, and Espio getting up carefully as the others rubbed their heads. He looked forward and noticed Mephiles walking to the unconscious Amy slowly.

"You bastard!" he got up and charged at his evil double. Mephiles knew he was coming, so he dodged every fist that Shadow swung. Angrily, he sent him back by a humungous punch! He slid back until he reached up to his fallen friends.

"Hey, are you ok?" Charmy asked as he brushed the snow off of his head.

"Now it's my turn", Knuckles charged at Mephiles. He tried to make a hit at him, but he kept missing! Soon enough, he was sent back by a strong kick. "Dammit", he sat up furiously.

"Now then…" the evil hedgehog looked at Amy, who was still unconscious. "Where was I?" he started walking to her again.

"_I can't let him touch her",_ Shadow thought coldly as he got back up. He dashed to his enemy and turned into a spinball. However, he was stopped by Mephiles' powers and got knocked down. Growling to himself, he stood up on his hands. He got up and thought of a plan. "Hey Asshole!" he yelled out to his foe snappily.

"What did you just call me?" Mephiles glared at him fiercely.

"I know where the Emerald is", Shadow said calmly.

"What is he doing!?" Vector threw his hands in the air with panic.

"Really?" the evil doer chuckled.

"The only way you're gonna have to know where the Emerald is…" Before Mephiles launched a fist at him, he jumped over him and punched him down. "…you're gonna have to catch me first." With that said, he took off in the other direction. It was the only way to save Amy and the Emerald.

"So, we're going to play some games now, are we?" Mephiles suddenly got up. He went after him by his dark speed.

"What do we do?" Rouge asked the group.

"I'm guessing Shadow's going to distract him until we find the Emerald", Espio thought outloud. "So we better find it and get outta here."

"But what about Shadow?" the bee asked him worriedly.

"He'll be alright", the chameleon replied. "Now let's go get that Emerald."

"Rodger", Omega walked to the edge. He fired a few lasers below, so that way everyone could get down into the forest easily. He was the first one to jump down. Everyone else followed.

"I got you, Amy", Sonic picked up the pink hedgehog in bridal style gently. He ran to the edge and followed Omega's lead. Once he landed on the soft snow, he noticed the others were ahead of him. He raised an eyebrow. _"How rude." _Netherless, he followed them with his supersonic speed.

In air, Mephiles was following Shadow, who was skating his way to a different location away from his crew. He threw a lot more energy balls down, but Shadow continuously dodged them and continued on. Just then, he stopped when he noticed an energy ball coming towards him! Speedily, Shadow dived to the side and survived. He got up and panted a little. His trouble double landed further in front of him.

"This is as far as you can go", Mephiles spoke with his left fist on his hip. "Now tell me where the Emerald is, or else I'll take your life."

"Try me!" Shadow narrowed his eyebrows unfeelingly.

"Very well."

The two got into a hand-to-hand combat. Somehow, thanks to Mephiles' powers, he was able to charge at Shadow faster with his fists and kicks. Still, he kept missing because of Shadow's excellent dodging. He ducked down from Shadow's upcoming fist, elbows him in the gut, and did a massive uppercut and sent him into the air! Before Shadow fully opened his eyes, he strongly kicked him back down. And just before he landed on the ground again, Mephiles kneed him in the gut, watching him cough out some blood. He watched him collapse to the snowy ground.

"This will be your end", he clenched his fists and gathered some more power.

Making a quick thought, Shadow did a spinning low kick attack, causing his foe to fall backwards. Wrathfully, he tackled him down and started punching him madly. Mephiles stopped his right fist from hitting him and pushed him off with his powers. Not giving up, Shadow charged at his enemy while he was getting up. Again, Mephiles continued avoiding his attacks. But then, he grabbed an arm and performed a throw down-until then, Shadow caught himself from falling down and kicked him off! Still, the battle wasn't over yet. In time, Mephiles started swinging fists, resulting getting blocked by Shadow.

On and on, Shadow continued to keep his guard up, so that way he wouldn't be defeated. He had to do all that he can in order to keep Amy safe from harm, and to make sure that his foe doesn't get a hold of the Emerald. Suddenly, he fell back, but then grabbed a hold of an edge. He looked down and saw nothing but frosty fogs. Whatever was down there, he would have to go through a great fall to know. Before he pulled himself up, Mephiles came out of nowhere and stepped on his left hand. He hissed in pain as he saved himself by hanging on with his right hand. However, he began to slip a little.

"I'm afraid I have to say good-bye to you for good", Mephiles said with no sympathy. "And just to let you know…I'm the Ultimate Life Form."

"_What?"_ Shadow looked up at him strangely. His other hand got stepped on and he started falling from above.

"Hmph", Mephiles turned around. "Now to find the Emerald and the girl." He vanished.

Still falling, Shadow passed through some great fogs and the rushing winds. Luckily, he grabbed a hold of another edge. He struggled for a little bit, but he was able to climb his way up. Even though the fog and the wind made him shiver, he did not care. Instead, he started climbing up bravely. Once he reached to the top, he noticed that his evil double was gone!

"Shit", he growled to himself as he pulled himself over the edge. He got up and took off speedily.

Meanwhile, Omega was using his hands as drills in order to cut through the frosty forest. The others had to be careful not to get in his way and to not receive a cut. However, they received a couple small ones. Except for Amy, because Sonic was careful enough to make sure she didn't receive a scratch. Minutes later, everyone made it out of the forest and began to run up a few hills. After that task, they reached to an area where ahead of them was nothing but pure ice.

"Alright, so what now?" Vector panted a little, since he barely kept up with his comrades from all of that running.

"The Emerald is somewhere deep within this thick ice", Omega replied.

"…" Amy finally opened her eyes. "Huh?" she looked up at Sonic. "What's going on?"

"Chao (Huh)?" Shade popped out of her backpack and yawned.

"Oh", Sonic looked down at her with a smile. "Good to see that you're ok." He let her down gently.

"Where's Shadow?" the pink hedgehog asked.

"Well, um…" Charmy picked his nose a little.

"He won't be seen again", Mephiles said as he appeared on the icy area.

"It's him!" the bee pointed at him shockingly.

"Well now", the vicious creature crossed his arms. "I hate to barge in, but the Emerald is mine. And…" He looked through the group and saw Amy. He waved a finger to come.

"What the-!?" Amy suddenly felt strange. "What's happening?" she started walking to him forcefully.

"Oh no you don't!" Sonic pulled her back and got in front of her for protection. "Sonic Wind!" he launched his attack to Mephiles. However, his attack was blocked by a shield. "Grr!"

"I guess I'll have to kill you all first", Mephiles began to charge up his powers. Just then, he received a few cuts from some golden arrow-like lights. "Argh!!" he held his right hip in pain. "What the…!?" he looked to his right.

Right on time, Shadow came down to the scene by sliding down a long snowy hill. As soon as he reached to the bottom, he charged at his foe. Amy and the others gasped, shocked to see that he was alright. Holding his hip, Mephiles charged at his look-a-like. The two had a battle; however Shadow seems to be winning this time. He was able to punch Mephiles in the face, kicked him, and elbowed him in the gut, just as hard as Mephiles did to him. Before long, Mephiles did a couple large back flips and threw some more energy balls at him. Shadow launched his Chaos Spear attack and the two powers collided, causing a bright blast. The two shaded their eyes as so did the others. After the smoke cleared, Shadow looked around, finding out that Mephiles have disappeared.

"Up there!" Vector pointed up to the sky.

Cautiously, Shadow and the others looked up and saw Mephiles. He looked down at Shadow as he still held his bloody hip. Really getting sick of him, he rubbed his hands together, letting lots of energy flow through him.

"Whoa, dude!" Charmy rubbed his eyes by surprise.

"DIE!" the dark hedgehog threw down a HUGE energy ball at Shadow.

"Dammit", Shadow hissed to himself and then vanished, just before he could've got killed. He reappeared on a different section and got into his fighting position. All of the sudden, he heard the ice crackling under his feet. He was about to move out of the way, but he couldn't! Mephiles was suddenly controlling his body! Grimly, he looked back up at the opponent.

"Why don't you take a nice swim?" Mephiles chuckled evilly. His eyes glowed. Magically, every shard of ice shattered and Shadow was suddenly pulled in. Just as he was underwater, Mephiles controlled all of the ice to form back together quickly. And because of his dark powers, the ice was thicker than ever.

Holding his breath, Shadow punched and elbowed the ice, even though he ended up hurting himself. There was no way that he was going to get out of this trap. The ice was too damn thick! After trying about ten more times, he begins to run out of air. He loses conscience and starts going down into the dark water.

"Shadow!" the heroes gasped for his life.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Mephiles laughed. "At last! I've finally rid of that hedgehog! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"_No!"_ Amy covered her mouth with tears.

"Shadow-chao-chao (Shadow, no)!" Shade said with tears.

"Now then…" Mephiles glared down at the heroes. "Who wants to die first?"

"Prepare yourselves", Espio pulled out a couple kunais.

Underwater, the hedgehog's body continued to float down slowly. Beneath him, a light blue glow appeared. It floated its way up to Shadow and began to shine brighter. A shield formed around him. In a short time, he woke up. He looked around, wondering what was going on. The light suddenly appeared in front of him, causing him to shade his eyes. At that moment, the light disappeared and the Chaos Emerald was right there in front of his face. To be honest, he was shocked to find it. Bravely, he grabbed a hold of it and clenched it tightly.

Returning with the heroes, they dived out of the way from another large energy ball. Thankfully, they were able to survive. They looked up at Mephiles, who was rubbing his hands together again. And then, he created a black Earth-size energy ball! Could the heroes dodge that thing? Amy, Charmy, and Vector gulped nervously. Before Mephiles could've thrown the energy ball to them, he sensed something. He looked down at the dark ice and noticed a light blue glow. Down below, Shadow was able to punch through the hard ice with the Emerald in his hand. He gasped for some air and climbed out of the freezing cold water.

"You're still alive, huh?" Mephiles said snappily. He threw down the energy ball to his greatest foe.

Just as Shadow was getting up, the energy ball was coming towards him! He looked at it and widened his eyes. Suddenly, the light blue Emerald glowed brightly, causing him to close his eyes tightly. Magically, a giant shield made out of ice protected him from the enormous blast. When the coast was clear, the ice shield disappeared. The black and red hedgehog looked at the gem curiously, wondering where that power came from. Netherless, he could feel it. The Emerald suddenly had a mind of its own as it got out of his grasp. Then it placed itself on Shadow's chest. Instead of trying to figure out what's going on, he concentrated on the Emerald's power and it let flow through him. Mephiles covered his eyes from the gleaming light blue glow. As soon as it disappeared, he looked down at Shadow. Now the heroic black hedgehog had light blue eyes and streaks on his body. He looked up at Mephiles.

"Impossible", the dark villain narrowed his eyebrows suspiciously. He began to throw down some more energy balls at his doppelganger.

Courageously, Shadow began to fly up to Mephiles with his hover shoes, avoiding the energy balls as he did so. The evil hedgehog started backing away so that way he wouldn't get touched. Still, Shadow was heading towards him from below. He clenched his fists as he showed his teeth with rage.

"Ice Spear!" He launched a couple white colored lights. Successfully, he was able to freeze both of Mephiles' hands.

"No! My hands!" Mephiles looked at his frozen solid hands.

Shadow turned into a light blue spinball and aimed at Mephiles. He knocked him down from the air. Then he started hitting him over and over again by force. After that he vanished. Before Mephiles could've fallen to the ground, Shadow appeared beneath him and did a hardcore kick in the air. Then he flew up and pounded him down with his two fists together. After that, he side kicked him to a different direction. Mephiles woke up and landed on the thick ice. Shadow landed on it as well.

First up, Mephiles used his mind to throw more energy balls at his opponent. But then, Shadow suddenly froze them with his ice powers. Then he launched the rounded icicles back at Mephiles. Once he saw Mephiles dodging out of the way, he turned into a spinball made out of ice and aimed at him. By a blink of an eye, he sent Mephiles back into an icy wall.

"Dammit", the criminal tried to get up. He was starting to lose his powers, since he sued a lot of his strength and that he couldn't use his hands. Suddenly, he was pulled up by a hand around his neck and was slammed against the wall. Mercilessly, Shadow started doing a long punch combo on him strongly. With the 100th hit, Shadow punched Mephiles into the wall madly. He saw his opponent groaning in pain as he was lying on his stomach.

"Chaos Freeze!" Shadow clenched the Emerald tightly. His powers froze up Mephiles and the wall. Now the battle was over. He panted as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He Chaos Controlled himself back to his comrades. Then his eyes and streaks turned back ruby red.

"Dude!" Charmy exclaimed cheerfully. "Where did that come from!?"

Strong winds started rushing in on the heroes as they shaded their eyes from the snow. The weather felt like a snow storm was coming! Charmy was about to fly away, but Vector caught him by his shirt collar.

"Snow storm approaching!" Omega yelled out.

"We gotta get outta here!" Sonic said afterwards.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow used his powers to teleport him and the others back to their starting point. Then he Chaos Controlled them, Tails, and the X-Tornado back to the front of Tails' workshop.

"Phew!" everyone sighed in relief.

"That was close", Knuckles wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Too close", Espio fanned himself a little.

"Hey, Shadow", Amy spoke to her boyfriend. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" the black hedgehog turned to her.

"You know, those cool ice powers!" Charmy said excitedly. "Can you teach me those powers? Please, please, PLEASE?"

"I'm…I'm not sure", Shadow looked at the Emerald. _"Where did that power come from?"_

"Let's take a break", Tails took off his snow gear.

"Yeah, let's", Sonic took off his scarf. He covered his mouth with his arm as he sneezed. "Dammit! I caught a cold!" He sneezed again.

One thing for sure, where was Eggman?

"Dammit!" the evil scientist growled furiously. "My beautiful airship is stuck within this damn snow!!" He was right. His long and wide airship was beneath the snow. Plus, he had to suffer the cold and the snow storm.

As for Mephiles…He was able to free himself with his dark powers and escaped. However, he had to face the storm as well. He dashed his way out of the snow storm and soon out of Ice Mountain. Now he was ready to kill Shadow once and for all. But for now, he had to find out where the next Emerald was.

"Soon…I'll be able to kill you, Shadow the Hedgehog. And…you're girlfriend will be mine." He let out an evil laugh.

* * *

Ok, I'm done. I did my best with this, so don't flame me!


	12. Author's Notice: Leaving Fanfiction

**READ IT! READ IT NOW AND READ IT CLOSELY!**

Hello, this is DangerousRockstar (my username used to be anime2videogames). Yes, I have changed my fanfiction username finally. I can see that I have not been updating on this story lately. However, I have not been on this website in a very, VERY long time. Seriously, I have been very busy with life that I completely forgotten about my fanfics. Hell, I almost forgot my password as I was logging into this website! Anyways, besides this story, I have not been updating on my other fanfics due to many things occurring in my life. Allow me to explain my reasons why I have not been around for a long time and also why I may not return to writing my fanfics anytime soon…

**Reason #1: College**

~Last fall, I was taking 6 classes because I did not have a job at the time, so I was studying…a lot! Spring Semester 2011 was just as busy, even though I took 5 classes this time. Aside from that, I was dealing with so much pressure from my professors and my family members when it comes to college. I'm still trying to figure out whether I should major in the medical field or computers. But for now, I am taking general classes like Math, English, Speech, etc. This fall, I will be taking five more classes. Some of you may be wonder if I need to take that many classes in a semester. At the college I go to, I only need 4 classes (12 credit hors) to be a full time student, but remember, I did not have a job back then, so I guess I am ahead of everyone when it comes to getting all of my credit hours. I need 64 in total, and so far, I have 31 credit hours! Almost half way done with community college! I do wish to complete the list of classes to get into a university, while at the same time, I wish the take things easier on me in terms of the amount of classes I sign up for and to see how many are easy or hard for me. I did make some new friends here and there, and I also tended to hang out with them when I am not busy. So I was pretty much busy with being a college kid. Right now, I am looking up classes for this fall and hopefully, I can raise my grade point average, because it is not as good as I hope it would be…

**Reason #2: Drama, left and right**

~Trust me, in life, there's drama. I had to deal with drama from school (well, stress is a better word) and from home. For some reason, my mom seems to be getting really, REALLY under my skin and I want her to back off for two seconds! Not only that, I have two aunts who are ill, cousins having children at a very young age, and of course, job hunting. So far, last year and this year have not been the easiest years of my life. But hey, what IS an easy year nowadays? Now that it's summer time, I can finally rest my brain from books, tests, and worrying about homework. Praise the lord! Even so, I still have some issues regarding to my family. Yeah, it's mostly family drama, but I'm not going the worst of family drama, honestly. I'm hoping everything will ease up on me and my relatives as time goes by…

**Reason #3: No new ideas have come to me**

~This is common for us here at Fanfiction, but wow, I am really having a hard time to come up with new stories! Even though I have ideas of new stories on my profile, I cannot start writing/typing up the chapters for some reason. Back when I first started writing on this website, I had so many ideas flying in my head, back and forth. But I guess because what has been going on in my life, I have not been able to sit down and come up with new ideas to finish any of my fanfics, or start writing any new ones. I really hate that. However, I am sure I am not the only one going through this right now. Sure a few of my favorite Fanfic authors have discontinued their fics and/or stopped writing them completely in the past, but I am not mad about it. I understand their feelings when it come to dealing with life and abandoning Fanfiction altogether. I guess it's my turn to take that road. Even though none of you guys don't want me to do that, I might have to since well…Hell, I have not been here in almost a year, so, of course, I may have to leave this website for good. I know some of you may have new ideas for my fanfics, but hell, why not just take over from where I left off? That's right; I am auctioning off ALL of my fanfics for those who wish to continue my fanfics. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.

**Reason #4: Working at two jobs is a pain!**

~Yes, I was finally able to find some summer part-time work for this summer. I work at an amusement park on Saturdays and at a local pool on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Today is Monday, so I am off from work, typing up this important message for you guys. Sure I have three off days, but the other four days are tedious and I have to work my butt off everytime! When I come home, I feel exhausted that I do not want to do anything but to sleep. But I gotta work this summer so I can save up on school and maybe a few videogames and clothes. Same goes with food. Who knows, I may have to find a different job that lasts all year around to pay for school and to have lunch and gas money in my pockets.

**Reason #5: Other distractions**

~All of the other distractions that are taking my time from **Fanfiction** include videogames, anime, preparing for summer vacation, preparing for school, **Youtube**, and of course, hanging out with people. It is what it is.

**Reason #6: I'm getting kind of bored here**

~No, it is not from waiting on new reviews from new people on my stories, but it's just that the entire website is not as entertaining as it used to be. Well, to me at least. Sure I came across a couple of good fanfics here and there, but for the most part, not many seem to interest me. With all of that going on, I tend to wonder why I still have an account here. Hell, can you even delete your accounts on this website? If so, I might as well do that seeing how I have not been updating on my fanfics and that I am getting really bored here. This is not the only website that's putting me to sleep. I am also getting bored with **DeviantArt** and **Facebook**. The only websites that are worth while to me now are **Youtube**, **Newgrounds**, **Google**, **Wikipedia**, and a few others. I'm not saying that this website sucks or anything, but the fact that matter is…I'm just losing my interests in **Fanfiction **altogether. Perhaps it is because I'm maturing and growing up…?

So there you go. Now that I have told many specific reasons to why I have not been updating, then I might as well end this segment by saying, "It's been fun, but I gotta move on." Now like I said earlier, if ANY of you wish to take my fanfics and continue the story for them, you can contact me whenever you have the time. If I take too long to reply, keep in mind that I am working at two jobs right now, so I may not be able to get back with you right away.

In closing, I would like to say thank you all for enjoying this story and many others for as they are and how much they contain, hopefully you'll understand where I am coming from, and of course, take care of yourselves.

(I REALLY hope you all read everything from start to finish, because if I see a review going "NOOOO DON'T GO! I CAN'T LIVE UNLESS YOU CONTINUE THE STORY!" or "THAT'S BULLSHIT! WHHHYYYY?" then I'll just look at your comments and laugh at you. Besides, you can't get everything in your life. You know that, right?)


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